Biography

BSc International Relations and History (London School of Economics & Political Science); MSc Violence, Conflict and Development (School of Oriental and African Studies); PhD International Relations (London School of Economics & Political Science) 

Paul joined the Department of International Relations in September 2012, having previously taught at the London School of Economics, Birkbeck and Goldsmiths. He was awarded his PhD from the Department of International Relations at the LSE in 2012. His thesis concerned different ways of explaining wartime sexual violence in feminist and gender theory, with a particular emphasis on issues in the philosophy of social science and an extended case study of atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is currently working on a version of this argument that will look at multiple cases of war and rape in historical and social context. 

Paul's other work has focused on gendered attributions of responsibility for violence and on the connections between technology, politics and war. He is also invested in the role of IR research in contemporary politics and in the possibility of a more public International Relations, which in recent years has meant taking a close interest in arguments about open access and the impact (or otherwise) of political inquiry.

He was previously one of three Editors of Millennium: Journal of International Studies for Volume 39 (2010-2011) and was Co-Editor of a special issue of International Feminist Journal of Politics on the topic of 'Rethinking Masculinities and Practices of Violence in Conflict Settings' (published in December 2012). He is also currently the Administrator for the BISA Working Group on Historical Sociology and International Relations.

Paul is a founding contributor at The Disorder Of Things, a group blog devoted to critical inquiry in global politics, and also collects the detritus of international politics at The Bodies Politic.

Role

Lecturer in International Security

Member, Sussex Centre for Conflict and Security Research

Member, Centre for Gender Studies

Member, Centre for Advanced International Theory

Research Interests

Feminist and Gender Theory; Wartime Sexual Violence; 'Extreme' Violence; Philosophy of Social Science; Critical War Studies; War and Conflict in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and the Great Lakes; Colonial and Postcolonial Violence in Africa; International Political Theory; Sociologies of Academic Knowledge; Public International Relations

Doctoral Supervision

I would be happy to consider PhD applications in any of the above fields, provided that they relate to global politics, broadly conceived.

Publications

Peer-Reviewed

• Kirby, Paul (2013) 'Refusing To Be A Man?: Men's Responsibility for War Rape and the Problem of Social Structures in Feminist and Gender Theory', Men and Masculinities, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 93-114. ISSN 1097-184X
• Kirby, Paul (2012) 'How is Rape a Weapon of War?: Feminist International Relations, Modes of Critical Explanation and the Study of Wartime Sexual Violence', European Journal of International Relations, OnlineFirst. ISSN 1354-0661

Other

• Kirby, Paul (2014) 'Masculinities' in Jill Steans and Daniela Tepe (eds.) Handbook of Gender in International Relations (Edward Elgar)
• Kirby, Paul (2013) 'The Unapologetic Schoolmaster', Critical Studies on Security, forthcoming (contribution to a forum on critical pedagogy)
• Kirby, Paul and Marsha Henry (2012) 'Rethinking Masculinity and Practices of Violence in Conflict Settings', International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 445-449. ISSN 1461-6742 (introduction to a co-edited special issue)
• Kirby, Paul (2011) 'Damage, Unincorporated: War Studies in the Shadow of the Information Bomb', Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 335-345. ISSN 1750-2977
• Kirby, Paul (2010) 'That Obscured Subject of Violence' (on Slavoj Zizek's Violence: Six Sideways Reflections), Subjectivity, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 117-121. ISSN 1755-6341

Autumn Term 2013

The International System Today: Regions and Institutions (BA): Convener and Lecturer

War in International Politics (BA) Co-Convener (with Dr Patricia Owens)

International Security (MA): Co-Convener (with Dr Matthew Ford)

New Security Challenges (MA): Lecturer

Spring Term 2014

Security and Insecurity in Global Politics (BA): Convener and Lecturer

Sex and Death in Global Politics (BA): Convener

Student Consultation

Mondays, 2-3pm

Fridays, 2-3pm

Kirby, Paul (2013) Refusing to be a man?: Men's responsibility for war rape and the problem of social structures in feminist and gender theory. Men and Masculinities, 16 (1). pp. 93-114. ISSN 1097-184X

Kirby, Paul (2012) How is rape a weapon of war?: feminist international relations, modes of critical explanation and the study of wartime sexual violence. European Journal of International Relations. pp. 1-25. ISSN 1354-0661

Kirby, Paul and Henry, Marsha (2012) Rethinking Masculinity and Practices of Violence in Conflict Settings. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 14 (4). pp. 445-449. ISSN 1461-6742

Kirby, Paul (2011) Damage, unincorporated: war studies in the shadow of the information bomb [Review article]. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 5 (3). pp. 335-345. ISSN 1750-2977

Kirby, Paul (2010) 'That obscured subject of violence': Slavoj Žižek (2008) Violence: six sideways reflections [Review article]. Subjectivity, 3 (1). pp. 117-121. ISSN 1755-6341