From Humanitarian Precision to Necropolitical Violence: Drone Warfare in the Middle East

Yunusov, Shokhrukh

Law and Social Justice in Society (LSJS)
Vol. 1 No. 2 (2026): Law and Social Justice in Society

This article examines drone warfare in the Middle East through the theoretical frameworks of biopolitics and necropolitics. The study aims to analyze the extent to which drone warfare, frequently justified as a precise and humanitarian form of military technology, actually operates as a form of necropolitical power that regulates life and death in conflict zones. In particular, the article investigates how the narratives of technological precision and ethical warfare may obscure broader structures of violence, surveillance, and domination embedded in the use of drones in the region. This research employs a qualitative approach using critical discourse analysis and theoretical interpretation. The study draws on the concepts of biopolitics developed by Michel Foucault and necropolitics proposed by Achille Mbembe as analytical frameworks to examine drone warfare practices. Data sources consist of academic literature, policy documents, reports on drone operations, and existing studies on targeted killings and remote warfare in the Middle East. Through this approach, the article analyzes key operational practices such as targeted killing, pattern-of-life analysis, and signature strikes, as well as the discursive construction of drones as precise and humanitarian technologies. The findings suggest that drone warfare extends beyond the narrative of humanitarian precision and instead functions as a form of necropolitical governance that categorizes certain populations as disposable or “killable bodies.” The reliance on data-driven targeting systems transforms individuals into algorithmic profiles, often blurring the distinction between combatants and civilians. Furthermore, claims of technological precision do not eliminate civilian casualties and may obscure the structural violence embedded in remote warfare. The study concludes that drone warfare in the Middle East reproduces broader historical patterns of imperial and colonial power through surveillance, control, and the remote administration of death.