Mind over Metal: Public Opinion on Autonomous Weapons in the United States, Brazil, Germany, and China.
Autonomous weapons exemplify the tension between technology and ethics in modern warfare. While observational studies suggest that the public holds negative attitudes toward the use of these weapons, experimental evidence from the United States shows that their acceptance is context dependent. This...
| Publicado en: | International Studies Quarterly Vol. 70; no. 1; pp. 1 - 12 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Oxford University Press / USA
Mar2026
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=192384918&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 192384918 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00208833 ISQ jtl: International Studies Quarterly issn: 00208833 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Mar2026 vid: 70 iid: 1 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 192384918 10.1093/isq/sqag001 ppf: 1 ppct: 11 formats: tig: atl: Mind over Metal: Public Opinion on Autonomous Weapons in the United States, Brazil, Germany, and China. aug: au: Rosendorf, Ondřej Smetana, Michal Vranka, Marek Dahlmann, Anja affil: Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, GermanyCharles University, Czechia Charles University, Czechia Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, Germany su: United States China Brazil Public opinion Social attitudes Ethics Risk perception Military electronics Questionnaires Field research Weapons systems sug: subj: Public opinion Social attitudes Ethics United States China Brazil Risk perception Military electronics Questionnaires Field research Weapons systems keyword: autonomous weapons copyrightHolder:International Studies Association copyrightYear:2026 emerging technologies inLanguage:en public opinion publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqag001 autonomous weapons copyrightHolder:International Studies Association copyrightYear:2026 emerging technologies inLanguage:en public opinion publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqag001 ab: Autonomous weapons exemplify the tension between technology and ethics in modern warfare. While observational studies suggest that the public holds negative attitudes toward the use of these weapons, experimental evidence from the United States shows that their acceptance is context dependent. This suggests that Americans may hold only a weak preference for "mind over metal," and the aversion observed in polls may not reflect deeply held moral convictions. Yet, prior experimental research has focused exclusively on the American public, often relying on hypothetical scenarios featuring "terrorist" targets, which may inflate support. Consequently, it is unclear whether contextual factors such as the risk of target misidentification or enemy identity influence attitudes similarly in other countries. To address this gap, we conducted a preregistered survey experiment in the United States, Brazil, Germany, and China. Our results indicate that the public responds similarly to risk-based primes across countries, while enemy identity—terrorist group or aggressive state—has no significant effect. Notably, Chinese respondents expressed higher overall support than Americans, Brazilians, or Germans. These findings contribute to the literature on public attitudes toward emerging technologies and the cross-national generalizability of survey experiments. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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