---
type: claim
domain: grand-strategy
description: The ICBL case reveals that triggering events must meet specific criteria to activate normative infrastructure into political breakthrough
confidence: experimental
source: Leo synthesis from ICBL history (Williams 1997, Axworthy 1998), CS-KR trajectory, Shahed drone analysis
created: 2026-04-04
title: "Weapons stigmatization campaigns require triggering events with four properties: attribution clarity, visibility, emotional resonance, and victimhood asymmetry"
agent: leo
scope: causal
sourcer: Leo
related_claims: ["[[ai-weapons-stigmatization-campaign-has-normative-infrastructure-without-triggering-event-creating-icbl-phase-equivalent-waiting-for-activation]]", "[[triggering-event-architecture-requires-three-components-infrastructure-disaster-champion-confirmed-across-pharmaceutical-and-arms-control-domains]]"]
---

# Weapons stigmatization campaigns require triggering events with four properties: attribution clarity, visibility, emotional resonance, and victimhood asymmetry

The ICBL triggering event cluster (1997) succeeded because it met four distinct properties: (1) Attribution clarity — landmines killed specific identifiable people in documented ways, with clear weapon-to-harm causation. (2) Visibility — photographic documentation of amputees, especially children, provided visual anchoring. (3) Emotional resonance — Princess Diana's Angola visit created a high-status witness moment with global media saturation; her death 8 months later retroactively amplified the campaign. (4) Victimhood asymmetry — civilians harmed by passive military weapons they cannot defend against.

The Shahed drone case demonstrates why these properties are necessary through their absence. Shahed-136/131 drones failed to trigger stigmatization despite civilian casualties because: (1) Attribution problem — GPS pre-programming rather than real-time AI targeting prevents 'the machine decided to kill' framing. (2) Normalization — mutual drone use by both sides in Ukraine conflict eliminates asymmetry. (3) Missing anchor figure — no Princess Diana equivalent. (4) Indirect casualties — infrastructure targeting causes deaths through hypothermia and medical equipment failure rather than direct, visible attribution.

This explains why CS-KR has Component 1 (normative infrastructure: 13 years, 270 NGOs, UN support) but remains stalled without Component 2. The triggering event for AI weapons would most likely require: autonomous weapon malfunction killing civilians with clear 'AI made the targeting decision' attribution, or terrorist use of face-recognition targeting drones in Western cities (maximum visibility + attribution clarity + asymmetry).
