Assembling Spaces and Networks of Care in Post-Drone Strike Yemen

The lethal cocktail of war and technology has always excited popular imagination and curiosity, nowhere is this more apparent than the emergence of the unmanned aerial vehicle or "drone" onto the frontlines of late-modern warfare. This combination of surveillance and strike platform has become the go-to military intervention option to safeguard US geopolitical interests, in an era where the troop surges of the so-called Global War on Terror era have been abandoned, in favour of “over the horizon” counter-terrorism operations. Since 2002 Yemen has been one of the proving grounds for this new way of going war, with drone strikes forming the backbone of a programme of targeted assassinations which have accounted for nearly 1400 deaths over the past two decades. From civilian “collateral damage” to unrelenting behaviour-based surveillance, the level of resentment and human suffering in the regions of Yemen where this technology is being employed, has often been overshadowed by a political debate, couched in terms of the legality of drone strikes under International Law. Far less attention, however, has been placed upon the long-term implications for civilians who are subject to this geographically detached form of warfare, particularly what forms health care interventions are available for those who have suffered at the hands of drone strikes. This research project therefore seeks to redress this imbalance by placing an emphasis on investigating what health care options are available to the victims of US drone strikes, and what role both local and international NGOs are playing to facilitate this care in the backdrop of an ongoing civil war. With that in mind, the analytical framework of therapeutic landscapes was employed to unearth what health care provisions are available in post-drone strike Yemen. The rationale for utilising this theoretical lens was to discover if it is possible to provide therapeutic services, in a space where the targeting of health care has rendered the lines between essential medical care and war indiscernible. A particular focus was also placed upon the role of national and international NGOs to create and sustain therapeutic spaces in the absence of a formal state-run apparatus. As well as how their advocacy and awareness efforts could contribute towards the creation and maintenance of wider therapeutic networks and assemblages both in, and beyond the physical confines of the war-ravaged Yemen context.

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University of Galway

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University of Galway

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CC-BY-NC-ND

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University of Galway Theses (PhD Theses)