![Victoria Basham BSc, PhD, FHEA](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/803?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Professor Victoria Basham
(she/her)
BSc, PhD, FHEA
Teams and roles for Victoria Basham
Professor of International Relations
Overview
My research interests are located at the intersections of feminist international relations, critical geopolitics, and international political sociology. Over the past two decades I have primarily worked in the field of Critical Military Studies (www.criticalmilitarystudies.org), publishing research on 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 have been, and I remain, 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. More recently, I have started to research the role of scandal in shaping world politics and in what it reveals about violence, accountability, and world order, with my co-authors Dr Jamie Johnson (University of Leicester) and Dr Owen Thomas (University of Exeter).
In 2025, I became Vice Chair of the British International Studies Association (https://www.bisa.ac.uk/) and in 2026, I will be be the Kerstin Hesselgren Visting Professor at the Swedish Defence University in Stockholm.
I have been the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Critical Military Studies (Taylor & Francis) which I also co-founded since 2015 (http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcms20).
I am co-edit 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/).
Publication
2025
- Basham, V. 2025. Beyond being and becoming? The potential of intergenerational and intragenerational solidarity. Critical Studies on Security 13 (2), pp.263-265. (10.1080/21624887.2025.2503572)
- Basham, V. 2025. Critical military studies. In: McCann, L. et al., Elgar Encyclopedia of Critical Management Studies. Edward Elgar. , pp.128-129. (10.4337/9781800377721.00033)
- Basham, V. M. 2025. Military. In: Jahn, B. and Schindler, S. eds. Elgar Encyclopedia of International Relations. Political Science and Public Policy 2025 Edward Elgar. , pp.251-252. (10.4337/9781035312283.000113)
- Bendfeldt, L. and Basham, V. M. 2025. Beyond the state: Reimagining protection as constellations of care. Critical Studies on Security 13 , pp.113-116. (10.1080/21624887.2024.2413751)
- Johnson, J. , Thomas, O. and Basham, V. 2025. ‘Mr Rules’: Keir Starmer and the juridification of politics. British Politics 20 , pp.272-286. (10.1057/s41293-024-00258-1)
- Thomas, O. , Basham, V. M. and Crilley, R. 2025. Death and denial in the city: Making sense of London Bridge and Grenfell. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 43 (7), pp.1332-1349. (10.1177/23996544251326476)
2024
- Basham, V. et al. 2024. Military social harm: An agenda for research. Current Sociology (10.1177/00113921241298697)
- Basham, V. M. 2024. Everyday modalities of militarization: beyond unidirectional, state-centric, and simplistic accounts of state violence. Critical Military Studies 10 (2), pp.142-146. (10.1080/23337486.2022.2070692)
- Basham, V. M. 2024. Mitä on militarismi ja militarisoituminen?. In: Hast, S. and Kotilainen, N. eds. Sodan pauloissa: Militarismi suomalaisessa yhteiskunnassa. Helsinki: Gaudeamus. , pp.31-36.
- Basham, V. M. 2024. War and militarism. In: Rossi, N. and Riemann, M. eds. Security Studies: An Applied Introduction. Sage. , pp.109-130.
2023
- Basham, V. 2023. War and socio-political orders. In: Guillaume, X. and Grayson, K. eds. Security Studies: Critical Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press. , pp.104-120.
2022
- Basham, V. M. 2022. Gender issues. In: Roy, K. ed. Oxford Bibliographies Military History. Oxford University Press(10.1093/OBO/9780199791279-0211)
- Johnson, J. , Basham, V. and Thomas, O. 2022. Ordering disorder: The making of world politics. Review of International Studies 48 (4), pp.607-625. (10.1017/S0260210522000183)
2021
- 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)
- 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)
- Johnson, J. M. and Basham, V. M. 2021. Living in dangerous times. Critical Studies on Terrorism 14 (4), pp.400-401. (10.1080/17539153.2021.1980181)
2020
- 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. M. 2020. "Wenn du frieden willst, bereite krieg vor". Über liberalen militarismus. Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 70 (16-17), pp.48-52.
2018
- 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. 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)
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
- Baker, C. et al., 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 and militaries: the importance of military masculinities for the conduct of state sanctioned violence. In: Sharoni, S. et al., Handbook on Gender and War. International Handbooks on Gender Edward Elgar. , pp.29-46.
- 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. 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)
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. , 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. 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)
2013
- Basham, V. 2013. War, identity and the liberal state: everyday experiences of the geopolitical in the Armed Forces. Interventions Routledge.
- 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. 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)
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
- Baker, C. et al., 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. 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. 2025. Beyond being and becoming? The potential of intergenerational and intragenerational solidarity. Critical Studies on Security 13 (2), pp.263-265. (10.1080/21624887.2025.2503572)
- 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. 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.
- 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. 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. , 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. et al. 2024. Military social harm: An agenda for research. Current Sociology (10.1177/00113921241298697)
- 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. , 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. 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. M. 2024. Everyday modalities of militarization: beyond unidirectional, state-centric, and simplistic accounts of state violence. Critical Military Studies 10 (2), pp.142-146. (10.1080/23337486.2022.2070692)
- 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. 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. 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. M. 2020. "Wenn du frieden willst, bereite krieg vor". Über liberalen militarismus. Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 70 (16-17), pp.48-52.
- Bendfeldt, L. and Basham, V. M. 2025. Beyond the state: Reimagining protection as constellations of care. Critical Studies on Security 13 , pp.113-116. (10.1080/21624887.2024.2413751)
- 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)
- Johnson, J. , Basham, V. and Thomas, O. 2022. Ordering disorder: The making of world politics. Review of International Studies 48 (4), pp.607-625. (10.1017/S0260210522000183)
- Johnson, J. , Thomas, O. and Basham, V. 2025. ‘Mr Rules’: Keir Starmer and the juridification of politics. British Politics 20 , pp.272-286. (10.1057/s41293-024-00258-1)
- Johnson, J. M. and Basham, V. M. 2021. Living in dangerous times. Critical Studies on Terrorism 14 (4), pp.400-401. (10.1080/17539153.2021.1980181)
- Thomas, O. , Basham, V. M. and Crilley, R. 2025. Death and denial in the city: Making sense of London Bridge and Grenfell. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 43 (7), pp.1332-1349. (10.1177/23996544251326476)
Book sections
- Basham, V. 2025. Critical military studies. In: McCann, L. et al., Elgar Encyclopedia of Critical Management Studies. Edward Elgar. , pp.128-129. (10.4337/9781800377721.00033)
- Basham, V. 2016. Gender and militaries: the importance of military masculinities for the conduct of state sanctioned violence. In: Sharoni, S. et al., Handbook on Gender and War. International Handbooks on Gender Edward Elgar. , pp.29-46.
- 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.
- 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. 2023. War and socio-political orders. In: Guillaume, X. and Grayson, K. eds. Security Studies: Critical Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press. , pp.104-120.
- 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. 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. M. 2022. Gender issues. In: Roy, K. ed. Oxford Bibliographies Military History. Oxford University Press(10.1093/OBO/9780199791279-0211)
- Basham, V. M. 2025. Military. In: Jahn, B. and Schindler, S. eds. Elgar Encyclopedia of International Relations. Political Science and Public Policy 2025 Edward Elgar. , pp.251-252. (10.4337/9781035312283.000113)
- Basham, V. M. 2024. Mitä on militarismi ja militarisoituminen?. In: Hast, S. and Kotilainen, N. eds. Sodan pauloissa: Militarismi suomalaisessa yhteiskunnassa. Helsinki: Gaudeamus. , pp.31-36.
- Basham, V. M. 2024. War and militarism. In: Rossi, N. and Riemann, M. eds. Security Studies: An Applied Introduction. Sage. , pp.109-130.
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 individual and collaborative research. My primary projects focus on:
- Scandals in international relations (with Jamie Johnson, University of Leicester and Owen Thomas, University of Exeter)
- Military social harm (this work is linked to my role as the Lead of the GW4 Critical Engagment with the Defence Establishment Network)
- War, violence and intergenerational injustice
- Feminist methodology and affective encounters in museums (with Audrey Reeves, Virginia Tech)
- Militarization in Brazil
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
- Scandal
- Militarism, militarization and insecurity
- Children in international relations
- Curation and cultures of war and militarism
Current supervision
Vicky Sutch
Teaching Associate and PhD student
Contact Details
Research themes
Specialisms
- critical military studies
- war and political violence
- gender and international relations
