![Victoria Basham](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/803?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Professor Victoria Basham
Professor of International Relations and Head of Politics and International Relations
- BashamV@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 29208 74360
- Law Building, Room 3.10, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX
Overview
My research interests lie in the field of Critical Military Studies (www.criticalmilitarystudies.org) at the intersections of feminist international relations, critical geopolitics and international political sociology. My work seeks to explore how war, and war preparedness, shape people’s daily lives and how daily life can, in turn, influence and facilitate war and other geopolitical outcomes. I am particularly interested in how gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and social class shape the prioritisation, use and perpetration of military force, especially in liberal democratic societies.
In 2015, I became the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Critical Military Studies (Taylor & Francis) which I also co-founded (http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcms20).
I am the co-editor of the Edinburgh University Press book series, Advances in Critical Military Studies, with Dr Sarah Bulmer at the University of Exeter (https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/series-advances-in-critical-military-studies.html).
I was also the President of the European International Studies Association (http://www.eisa-net.org/) between 2017 and 2019. In 2017 I served as Programme Chair (with Dr Cemal Burak Tansel at the University of Sheffield) of the EISA's 11th Pan-European Conference on International Relations, held in Barcelona, Spain (http://www.paneuropeanconference.org/2017/).
Alongside Dr Simone Tholens, I co-direct the Cardiff Centre for Conflict, Security and Societies (https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/research/explore/research-units/centre-for-conflict-security-and-societies; @cardiffCCSS).
Publication
2022
- Basham, V. M. 2022. Everyday modalities of militarization: beyond unidirectional, state-centric, and simplistic accounts of state violence. Critical Military Studies (10.1080/23337486.2022.2070692)
- Johnson, J., Basham, V. and Thomas, O. 2022. Ordering disorder: The making of world politics. Review of International Studies (10.1017/S0260210522000183)
- Basham, V. M. 2022. Gender issues. In: Roy, K. ed. Oxford Bibliographies Military History. Oxford University Press, (10.1093/OBO/9780199791279-0211)
2021
- Johnson, J. M. and Basham, V. M. 2021. Living in dangerous times. Critical Studies on Terrorism (10.1080/17539153.2021.1980181)
- Catignani, S. and Basham, V. 2021. The gendered politics of researching military policy in the age of the ‘knowledge economy’. Review of International Studies 47(2), pp. 211-230. (10.1017/S0260210521000036)
- Catignani, S. and Basham, V. M. 2021. Reproducing the military and heteropatriarchal normal: Army Reserve service as serious leisure. Security Dialogue 52(2), pp. 99-117. (10.1177/0967010620923969)
- Basham, V. 2021. A necessarily historical materialist moment? Feminist reflections on the need for grounded critique in an age of crisis. International Relations 35(1), pp. 178-182. (10.1177/0047117821992408)
2020
- Basham, V. M. 2020. "Wenn du frieden willst, bereite krieg vor". Über liberalen militarismus. Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 70(16-17), pp. 48-52.
- Basham, V. M. 2020. From Hitler’s Youth to the British child soldier: how the martial regulation of children normalises and legitimises war. In: Beier, J. M. ed. Discovering Childhood in International Relations. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 135-154.
2018
- Basham, V. M. 2018. Liberal militarism as insecurity, desire and ambivalence: gender, race and the everyday geopolitics of war. Security Dialogue 49(1-2), pp. 32-43. (10.1177/0967010617744977)
- Basham, V. and Catignani, S. 2018. War is where the hearth is: gendered labor and the everyday reproduction of the geopolitical in the army reserves. International Feminist Journal of Politics 20(2), pp. 153-171. (10.1080/14616742.2018.1442736)
2017
- Basham, V. and Bulmer, S. 2017. Critical military studies as method: an approach to studying gender and the military. In: Duncanson, C. and Woodward, R. eds. Palgrave International Handbook of Gender and the Military. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 59-72.
2016
- Basham, V. M. 2016. Raising an army: the geopolitics of militarizing the lives of working-class boys in an age of austerity. International Political Sociology 10(3), pp. 258-274. (10.1093/ips/olw013)
- Basham, V. 2016. Gender and militaries: the importance of military masculinities for the conduct of state sanctioned violence. In: Sharoni, S. et al. eds. Handbook on Gender and War. International Handbooks on Gender Edward Elgar, pp. 29-46.
- Baker, C., Basham, V., Bulmer, S., Gray, H. and Hyde, A. 2016. Encounters with the military: toward a feminist ethics of critique?. International Feminist Journal of Politics 18(1), pp. 140-154. (10.1080/14616742.2015.1106102)
- Basham, V. 2016. Gender, race, militarism and remembrance: the everyday geopolitics of the poppy. Gender, Place & Culture 23(6), pp. 883-896. (10.1080/0966369X.2015.1090406)
2015
- Basham, V. 2015. Waiting for war: soldiering, temporality and the gendered politics of boredom and joy in military spaces. In: Ahall, L. and Gregory, T. eds. Emotions, Politics and War. Interventions Abingdon and New York: Routledge, pp. 128-140.
- Basham, V. M. 2015. Telling geopolitical tales: temporality, rationality, and the 'childish' in the ongoing war for the Falklands-Malvinas Islands. Critical Studies on Security 3(1), pp. 77-89. (10.1080/21624887.2015.1014698)
- Basham, V., Belkin, A. and Gifkins, J. 2015. What is critical military studies?. Critical Military Studies 1(1), pp. 1-2. (10.1080/23337486.2015.1006879)
2013
- Basham, V. 2013. War, identity and the liberal state: everyday experiences of the geopolitical in the Armed Forces. Interventions. Routledge.
- Basham, V. and Vaughan-Williams, N. 2013. Gender, race and border security practices: a profane reading of 'muscular liberalism’. The British Journal of Politics & International Relations 15(4), pp. 509-527. (10.1111/j.1467-856X.2012.00517.x)
- Basham, V., Hurcombe, M. and Pearson, C. 2013. Introduction: traces of conflict. Journal of War and Culture Studies 6(1), pp. 1-5. (10.1179/1752627212Z.0000000001)
2011
- Basham, V. 2011. Harnessing social diversity in the British Armed Forces: the limitations of ‘management’ approaches. In: Leuprecht, C. ed. Defending Democracy and Securing Diversity. Routledge, pp. 69-87.
- Basham, V. 2011. Kids with guns: militarization, masculinities, moral panic and (dis)organised violence. In: Beir, J. M. ed. The Militarization of Childhood: Thinking Beyond the Global South. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 175-193.
2009
- Basham, V. 2009. Effecting discrimination: operational effectiveness and harassment in the British Armed Forces. Armed Forces & Society 35(4), pp. 728-744. (10.1177/0095327X08324762)
- Basham, V. 2009. Harnessing social diversity in the British Armed Forces: the limitations of 'management' approaches. Journal of Comparative and Commonwealth Politics 47(4), pp. 411-429. (10.1080/14662040903363071)
2008
- Basham, V. 2008. Everyday gendered experiences and the discursive construction of civilian and military identities in Britain. NORMA: Nordic Journal for Masculinity Studies 3(2), pp. 150-166.
Articles
- Basham, V. M. 2022. Everyday modalities of militarization: beyond unidirectional, state-centric, and simplistic accounts of state violence. Critical Military Studies (10.1080/23337486.2022.2070692)
- Johnson, J., Basham, V. and Thomas, O. 2022. Ordering disorder: The making of world politics. Review of International Studies (10.1017/S0260210522000183)
- Johnson, J. M. and Basham, V. M. 2021. Living in dangerous times. Critical Studies on Terrorism (10.1080/17539153.2021.1980181)
- Catignani, S. and Basham, V. 2021. The gendered politics of researching military policy in the age of the ‘knowledge economy’. Review of International Studies 47(2), pp. 211-230. (10.1017/S0260210521000036)
- Catignani, S. and Basham, V. M. 2021. Reproducing the military and heteropatriarchal normal: Army Reserve service as serious leisure. Security Dialogue 52(2), pp. 99-117. (10.1177/0967010620923969)
- Basham, V. 2021. A necessarily historical materialist moment? Feminist reflections on the need for grounded critique in an age of crisis. International Relations 35(1), pp. 178-182. (10.1177/0047117821992408)
- Basham, V. M. 2020. "Wenn du frieden willst, bereite krieg vor". Über liberalen militarismus. Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 70(16-17), pp. 48-52.
- Basham, V. M. 2018. Liberal militarism as insecurity, desire and ambivalence: gender, race and the everyday geopolitics of war. Security Dialogue 49(1-2), pp. 32-43. (10.1177/0967010617744977)
- Basham, V. and Catignani, S. 2018. War is where the hearth is: gendered labor and the everyday reproduction of the geopolitical in the army reserves. International Feminist Journal of Politics 20(2), pp. 153-171. (10.1080/14616742.2018.1442736)
- Basham, V. M. 2016. Raising an army: the geopolitics of militarizing the lives of working-class boys in an age of austerity. International Political Sociology 10(3), pp. 258-274. (10.1093/ips/olw013)
- Baker, C., Basham, V., Bulmer, S., Gray, H. and Hyde, A. 2016. Encounters with the military: toward a feminist ethics of critique?. International Feminist Journal of Politics 18(1), pp. 140-154. (10.1080/14616742.2015.1106102)
- Basham, V. 2016. Gender, race, militarism and remembrance: the everyday geopolitics of the poppy. Gender, Place & Culture 23(6), pp. 883-896. (10.1080/0966369X.2015.1090406)
- Basham, V. M. 2015. Telling geopolitical tales: temporality, rationality, and the 'childish' in the ongoing war for the Falklands-Malvinas Islands. Critical Studies on Security 3(1), pp. 77-89. (10.1080/21624887.2015.1014698)
- Basham, V., Belkin, A. and Gifkins, J. 2015. What is critical military studies?. Critical Military Studies 1(1), pp. 1-2. (10.1080/23337486.2015.1006879)
- Basham, V. and Vaughan-Williams, N. 2013. Gender, race and border security practices: a profane reading of 'muscular liberalism’. The British Journal of Politics & International Relations 15(4), pp. 509-527. (10.1111/j.1467-856X.2012.00517.x)
- Basham, V., Hurcombe, M. and Pearson, C. 2013. Introduction: traces of conflict. Journal of War and Culture Studies 6(1), pp. 1-5. (10.1179/1752627212Z.0000000001)
- Basham, V. 2009. Effecting discrimination: operational effectiveness and harassment in the British Armed Forces. Armed Forces & Society 35(4), pp. 728-744. (10.1177/0095327X08324762)
- Basham, V. 2009. Harnessing social diversity in the British Armed Forces: the limitations of 'management' approaches. Journal of Comparative and Commonwealth Politics 47(4), pp. 411-429. (10.1080/14662040903363071)
- Basham, V. 2008. Everyday gendered experiences and the discursive construction of civilian and military identities in Britain. NORMA: Nordic Journal for Masculinity Studies 3(2), pp. 150-166.
Book sections
- Basham, V. M. 2022. Gender issues. In: Roy, K. ed. Oxford Bibliographies Military History. Oxford University Press, (10.1093/OBO/9780199791279-0211)
- Basham, V. M. 2020. From Hitler’s Youth to the British child soldier: how the martial regulation of children normalises and legitimises war. In: Beier, J. M. ed. Discovering Childhood in International Relations. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 135-154.
- Basham, V. and Bulmer, S. 2017. Critical military studies as method: an approach to studying gender and the military. In: Duncanson, C. and Woodward, R. eds. Palgrave International Handbook of Gender and the Military. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 59-72.
- Basham, V. 2016. Gender and militaries: the importance of military masculinities for the conduct of state sanctioned violence. In: Sharoni, S. et al. eds. Handbook on Gender and War. International Handbooks on Gender Edward Elgar, pp. 29-46.
- Basham, V. 2015. Waiting for war: soldiering, temporality and the gendered politics of boredom and joy in military spaces. In: Ahall, L. and Gregory, T. eds. Emotions, Politics and War. Interventions Abingdon and New York: Routledge, pp. 128-140.
- Basham, V. 2011. Harnessing social diversity in the British Armed Forces: the limitations of ‘management’ approaches. In: Leuprecht, C. ed. Defending Democracy and Securing Diversity. Routledge, pp. 69-87.
- Basham, V. 2011. Kids with guns: militarization, masculinities, moral panic and (dis)organised violence. In: Beir, J. M. ed. The Militarization of Childhood: Thinking Beyond the Global South. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 175-193.
Books
- Basham, V. 2013. War, identity and the liberal state: everyday experiences of the geopolitical in the Armed Forces. Interventions. Routledge.
Research
I am currently engaged in an agenda of collaborative research. My primary projects focus on:
- Critical Engagment with the Defence Establishment (GW4 Network Lead)
- Military scandals and inquiries (with Owen Thomas, University of Exeter)
- Museums, curation and militarism (with Audrey Reeves, Virginia Tech)
- Popular and elite narratives of insecurity in the London Bridge terror attack and Grenfell Tower disaster (BA Small Grant funded, with Owen Thomas, University of Exeter and Rhys Crilley, Glasgow University)
- Scandals in international relations (with Jamie Johnson, University of Leicester and Owen Thomas, University of Exeter)
I am also conducting ongoing individual work on children in international relations and on war and intergenerational injustice.
Teaching
My teaching centres around making sense of violence and warfare through critical analysis.
Biography
Prior to joining Cardiff (in January 2016), I worked at the University of Exeter (from September 2009) and before that, spent several years at the University of Bristol where I first obtained my undergraduate degree in Social Policy and Politics (2002) and then completed my PhD on gender, race and sexuality in the British Armed Forces (2007). I also undertook an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2007-2008) at the University of Bristol, during which I was also a Visiting Fellow at the York Centre for International and Security Studies (YCISS), Toronto, Canada. I have also held research assistance posts at Open University and the University of the West of England.
Supervisions
- Critical military studies
- Critical approaches to war and peace (feminist, postcolonial and IPE)
- Militarism, militarization and insecurity
- Miitary scandal and conduct
- Children in international relations
- Curation and cultures of war and militarism
- Discourse analysis, ethnography and qualitative interview research pertaining to critical military studies and critical security studies
Current supervision
Miss Nicola Lester
Research student
