Non-lethal weapons : striking experiences in a non-cooperative environment

In missions to stabilize conflicts around the world, the military forces increasingly find themselves operating amongst the people. The emerging need in military interventions to prevent casualties translated into a range of value driven military technological developments, such as non-lethal weapons (NLW). NLWs can be characterized by a certain technological and operational design 'window' of permissible physiological effect, defined at each end by values: one value is a controlled physiological impact to enforce compliance by targeted individuals, the other value is the prevention of inflicting serious harm of fatality. This paper points out that societal and political implications of these values in the military domain are governed by a different scheme than is the case in the civil domain. The practical cases concerning non-lethal weapons examined illustrate how values incorporated in military and police concepts are exposed to counteraction and annihilation when deployed in real world operational missions.