40TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR MILITARY ETHICS CONFERENCE

This year’s conference focuses on the growing spectrum of uses of force in today’s changing world, where the generally agreed to system of international relations that evolved within the framework of the Westphalian System has morphed into the “Liberal International Order” in the aftermath of World War II.  Increasingly, rising powers such as Russia, China, and Iran are finding ways to use force to achieve strategic goals while staying below triggers for traditional war.  The rapidly increasing military capabilities in the areas of cyber warfare, autonomous weapons systems, the application of artificial intelligence to military force, and new weapons such as hypersonic missiles, pose novel ethical challenges poorly addressed by previously settled frameworks for military ethics.

ISME 2020 will address aspects of this changing environment:  e.g., the restructuring of the international system, new weapons and tactics, war in the gray zone of “little green men,” the building of artificial islands in the South China Sea, other jus ad vim issues, employment of "lawfare," strategic encouragement of irredentist aspirations, internment and “re-education” of cultural and religious minorities on vulnerable flanks, interference in elections, and the impact of these phenomena on the health and well-being of military members, veterans, and other citizens.