The third chapter looks at the spread of U.S. military control across the planet from the Cold War to the “war on terror.” It considers how various military infrastructures have been materialized across land, sea, and finally, outer space. It argues that all of these are becoming “dronified.”
The second chapter presents a detailed history of the Vietnam War and argues that the conflict created a number of foundations for the rise of the Predator Empire. Three instances are of particular importance: the “electronic battlefield;” the practice of “manhunting;” and the use of drones for surveillance.
The first chapter builds on the Introduction to explain the idea of “technological civilization,” and puts forward the idea of a “more-than-human geopolitics.” It then investigates the passage from an American Empire to a Predator Empire before looking in more detail at the power of machines to discipline and police the human condition.
The introduction of Predator Empire presents an overview of the book, beginning by presenting the kinds of theoretical issues that are at stake together with a background on drone warfare.
The conclusion of Predator Empire, while in some way recapping some of the major themes in the book, is centered on the idea of the passage from the U.S. social security state to the national security state (i.e. the Predator Empire), and how this has created an unaccountable and alienated form of government control.
The fifth chapter explores the militarization of U.S. policing and connects it to the wider idea of “enclosure” and policing civilization. It also looks at technological forms of policing. The chapter finishes by looking at the “dronification” of the urban atmosphere and future drones that can “swarm” in the atmosphere.
The fourth chapter uses Hannah Arendt’s concept of the “rule by Nobody.” It is the idea of a bureaucratic system in which people no longer have accountability. The chapter uses this to explain modern U.S. surveillance and other “machinic” forms of social control. It explores the idea of social alienation and disaffection in more depth.