Chiara Libiseller is a PhD candidate at the War Studies Department, funded by LISS DTC. She holds an MA in International Peace and Security from King’s College London and a BA in Political Science from the University of Innsbruck, Austria. She is also a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the War Studies Department, currently teaching first year undergraduate students in the ‘Conduct of War’. She cares deeply about teaching and continually aim to improve her teaching skills. Another area she cares deeply about is promoting (young) women in the field of security and defence, which is why she is part of the leadership team of WIIS UK (Women in International Security).

Research interests

• All things Strategic Studies, esp. strategic theory and contemporary military strategy
• The role of ideas and discourse in shaping actions and vice versa

Doctoral research

Tracing Ideational Change and Continuity in Concepts and Labels of War and Warfare in the North-Atlantic Area Since the End of the Cold War

In its broadest sense, her research is interested in how the Anglo-American strategic community has generated knowledge on war and warfare in the post-Cold War era. More specifically, She is looking at fashionable concepts of war and warfare that, although superficial and broad, are widely used among scholars and practitioners – examples include hybrid war/fare, cyber war/fare, information war/fare, asymmetric war/fare, counter-insurgencies, and Revolution in Military Affairs. The aim of her thesis is to understand how and why these concepts become (un)fashionable. Fashionability is not only about the number of people using a concept, but also about the process through which a concept is applied to ever-more case studies and stripped of its meaning, while, at the same time, bestowed with authority that withstands criticism. Through comparing different case studies (i.e. concepts), their content and embedded assumptions, and tracing periods of rise to fashionability and decline or marginalization of concepts, she wants to understand the causes and mechanisms that generate waves of interest in the field of Strategic Studies.

Supervisors

• Joe Maiolo (primary)
• Jeff Michaels (second)