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.
Authors can choose to publish gold open access in this journal.
Read the Instructions for Authors for information on how to submit your article.
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