Regulating Autonomous Weapon Systems: Searching for African Solutions to Regional and Global Problems

Abstract

Lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS), while offering strategic advantages in warfare, pose significant ethical, legal, and security risks, especially for countries in the Global South. This article examines how a philosophical perspective, rooted in African ethical and political thought, can enrich regional and global debates on regulating LAWS, which remain dominated by Eurocentric assumptions. The findings of this study, which draw from secondary data, suggest that existing international and regional safeguards are insufficient to address the risks posed by LAWS. It proposes a dual-theoretical approach informed by technological determinism and grounded in ubuntu. This approach centres on collective human accountability and reinforces the imperative of meaningful human control in the design, deployment, and governance of LAWS to safeguard the security and sovereignty of affected states and communities. This article lays the groundwork for African-led regulatory mechanisms for emerging military technologies and offers an Afrocentric perspective on rethinking the global governance of LAWS.