On November 24, 2017, the Center for Foreign Policy and Peace Research hosted a PeaceTalk: Young Scholar Series seminar at Bilkent University. Our guest speaker, Dr. Andris Banka, Assistant Professor in Politics and International Relations at Çağ University, made a presentation entitled “`Killing Norms Softly`: US targeted killing, quasi-secrecy and the assassination ban”.

Andris Banka’s presentation focused on how drone technologies have in the US context revisited the centuries old targeted killing tactic. He presented a history of targeted killings starting with assassinations up until the assassination ban by the so-called Church Committee in the 1970s. He then discussed how 9/11 became the turning point that created an opportunity for lawmakers to call for targeted assassinations, and paved the way for the use of drones. He pointed out that while shifts in norms are accomplished by different political actors, a stable new normative settlement requires direct public advocacy in support of an innovative practice. However in the US case, he concluded, official secrecy, in a partial strategic form that is termed ‘quasi-secrecy’, can be a highly effective mechanism for normalizing potentially controversial shifts in practice.