Security or Security Issue of Tomorrow? Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems : A critical discourse analysis of securitization of LAWS in German political-institutional dabates

Sammanfattning: In this thesis, the role of Legal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) in the German institutional-political landscape is examined. The effort guiding the thesis is to uncover and understand how LAWS have been constructed in the German institutional-political discourse from 2017-2021. The field of LAWS is comparatively under-researched due to their recent emergence and highly contested spread as a weapon of choice. By trying to answer how securitization is taking place in German political-institutional debates surrounding LAWS, the aim is to better understand the different discursive elements of securitization in the specific German context. Building on the elements of defining the securitizing actor and referent subject, evaluating which discourse elements contribute and limit a securitization of LAWS and how suggested policy measures are tied to other discourses allows for a multileveled understanding of the issue at hand. What is clear is the need to further expand research in this field with the goal of contributing to the larger body of literature within Peace and Conflict Studies, detangling present discourses and suggesting potential policy paths. Finally, the conclusion drawn in this thesis suggests that both a technological discourse and discourse of threat of other actors contribute toward securitization of LAWS while a liberal economic discourse limits the securitization of LAWS.