About this journal

Aims & Scope

Critical Military Studies provides a rigorous, innovative platform for interdisciplinary debate on the operation of military power. It encourages the interrogation and destabilization of often taken-for-granted categories related to the military, militarism and militarization. It especially welcomes original thinking on contradictions and tensions central to the ways in which military institutions and military power work, how such tensions are reproduced within different societies and geopolitical arenas, and within and beyond academic discourse. Contributions on experiences of militarization among groups and individuals, and in hitherto underexplored, perhaps even seemingly ‘non-military’ settings are also encouraged.

We particularly encourage submissions on:
- The contributions of critical analysis to military studies
- Comparative and cross-national accounts of militaries, militarism and militarization
- Social, political, cultural and economic forms of authoritarianism, militarism and militarization
- Race, Empire and Postcolonialism in military studies
- Gendered and queer analyses
- Disability and embodiment, including critical studies of military mental health and resilience
- Legacies of military occupation
- The social and cultural process of legitimising military actions and institutions
- Geographies and landscapes of militarism and military activities
- Military strategy (including counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism)
- Military atrocities
- Militias, paramilitary groups and private militarised security
- Child soldiers and military youth programs
- Military-industrial-complex
- Conscientious objection, war resistance and peace movements
- Disaster relief, military humanitarianism, peacekeeping and reconstruction
- Military education and cadets
- Military families
- Social relations in military bases and base towns
- Science, technology and medicine in militaries and militarism
- Representation and the cultural (re)production of war, violence and militarism
- The challenges and opportunities of critical engagement and collaboration with military personnel
- Veterans and ex-combatants
- New and critical methodologies in critical military studies

The Journal also includes a non-peer reviewed section, Encounters, showcasing multidisciplinary forms of critique such as film and photography, and engaging with policy debates and activism, and invites proposals for special sections and special issues on themes that fit with our scope and aims. Please contact the relevant editors for further information and consult or Instructions for Authors.

Peer Review
All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the Editor-in-Chief, Special Issues Editors or Encounters Editors as appropriate. If found suitable for further consideration, all papers with the exception of Encounters pieces, are sent out for double anonymized peer review by at least two independent, anonymous expert referees. We use this rigorous process to provide prospective authors with specialist feedback and to inform our decisions on publication. Encounters pieces do not undergo peer review but are carefully reviewed instead by the journal's Encounters editorial team.

Although we do not currently publish book reviews, we are willing to consider review essays that use a book, relevant to the field of critical military studies, as a point of reference or departure for a wider analysis of the issues it raises. These pieces undergo the same rigorous peer review process as other submitted articles.

Editor-in-Chief

Dr Victoria Basham, Cardiff University, UK
[email protected]

Co-Founding Editors

Professor Aaron Belkin, San Francisco State, USA

Dr Alison Howell, Rutgers University, USA

Associate Editors

Dr Christine Agius, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
Dr Huw Bennett, Cardiff University, UK
Dr Sarah Bulmer, University of Exeter, UK
Dr Sergio Catignani, University of Exeter, UK
Dr Daniel Conway, Westminster University, UK
Dr Harriet Gray, University of York, UK
Dr Alex Hyde, University College London, UK
Dr Jamie M. Johnson, University of Leicester, UK
Professor Rachel Woodward, Newcastle University, UK

Special Issues Editor

Dr Alice Cree, Newcastle University, UK

Dr Laura Mills, University of St Andrews, UK

Dr Julia Welland, University of Warwick, UK

Editorial Board

Dr Paul Amar, University of California, USA
Professor Dibyesh Anand, University of Westminster, UK
Dr Andrew Bickford, Georgetown University, USA
Professor Pinar Bilgin, Bilkent University, Turkey
Dr Shane Brighton, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Dr Nick Caddick, Anglia Ruskin University, UK
Dr Ana Carden-Coyne, University of Manchester, UK
Dr Deborah Cowen, University of Toronto, Canada
Professor Christopher Dandeker, Kings College London, UK
Professor Cynthia Enloe, Clark University, USA
Dr Maria Eriksson Baaz, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Professor Sabine Frühstück, University of California Santa Barbara, USA
Professor Emily Gilbert, University of Toronto, Canada
Professor Paul Gough, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia
Dr Lirio Gutiérrez Rivera, National University of Colombia Medellín, Colombia
Dr Susanna Hast, Theatre Academy Helsinki, University of the Arts, Finland
Dr Marsha Henry, London School of Economics, UK
Professor Eric Herring, University of Bristol, UK
Dr Paul Higate, University of Bath, UK
Dr Caroline Holmqvist, Swedish National Defence College, Sweden
Professor Jef Huysmans, Queen Mary, University of London, UK
Professor Danny Kaplan, Bar Ilan University, Israel
Professor Catherine Lutz, Brown University, USA
Dr Godfrey Maringira, Sol Plaatje University, South Africa
Dr Kevin McSorley, University of Portsmouth, UK
Florence Ncube, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
Professor Seungsook Moon, Vassar College, USA
Dr Daniel Neep, Georgetown University, USA
Dr Chris Pearson, University of Liverpool, UK
Dr Chris Rossdale, University of Bristol, UK
Professor Paul Rogers, University of Bradford, UK
Dr Jana Tabak, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Dr Owen D Thomas, University of Exeter, UK
Dr Joanna Tidy, University of Sheffield, UK
Dr Ben Wadham, Flinders University, Australia
Professor Vron Ware, Kingston University, UK
Dr Zoë H Wool, Rice University, USA
Dr Chih Yuan Woon, National University of Singapore, Republic of Singapore

News, offers and calls for papers

News and offers

• Critical Military Studies Blog