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n October 2011, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency identified and killed an
American- born Al Qaeda leader named Anwar al- Awlaki. Two weeks later, al-
Awlaki’s 16- year- old son Abdulrahman al- Awlaki was also killed in a drone strike in
Yemen. The killing of the younger al- Awlaki, a U.S. citizen, by executive order and with-
out due pro cess, marked a turning point in the use of armed drones in the war on
terror. It may have set a dangerous pre ce dent, especially as other states and possi-
bly terrorists gain drone technology. Iran, for example, is close to being able to deploy
its own long- range drones, and it has declared many of its former citizens, as well as
some foreigners, guilty of crimes punishable by death. How might Britain respond
should Iran use an armed drone to execute an Ira nian citizen living in Oxford, Eng land,
especially if collateral damage would result?
Among the many issues engaging the actors in international relations, war is gen-
erally viewed as the oldest, the most prevalent, and, in the long term, the most impor-
tant. Wars—in par tic u lar major wars between states— have been the focus of historians
for centuries. Major works on war include Thucydides’s History of the Peloponnesian
War (431 bc) and Carl von Clausewitz’s On War (1832). World War I and its aftermathWar and Strife