DR EDWARD STODDARD
Reader in International Security, University of Portsmouth
Visiting Professor, College of Europe (Natolin Campus)
Affiliated Fellow (and Former Marie Curie Fellow in Conflict Studies) at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa
ABOUT ME
I am Reader in International Security at the University of Portsmouth where I research and teach on topics including changing character of warfare, security/strategic studies, political economy (especially energy), regional politics (esp. the Former Soviet Union, the Gulf and West Africa) and comparative authoritarianism. I am also a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Natolin Campus, Warsaw) where I teach a couse on the History of War and armed conflict. Between 2018 and 2020 I was a Marie-Curie Research Fellow in Conflict Studies at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa focued on non-Western actors and the changing character of warfare. I remain an Affiliated Fellow at the Emerging Research in International Security Research Group at Sant'Anna. Between 2014-15 I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Freie Universitat Berlin.
Click the icon to the left to see my CV.
AREAS OF RESEARCH INTEREST
NON-WESTERN POWERS AND CONTEMPORARY WARFARE
Examining the military actions of non-Western powers.
Most of the recent literature on the changing character of warfare has focused on Western instances of war. But why do non-Western powers go to war? When they do, how do they fight? Do we see the same patterns emerging from non-Western wars (wars with no or only a minimal role for Western states) as we do from those recent wars involving NATO members?
VIOLENT NON-STATE ACTORS, INSURGENCY AND NON-WESTERN WARS
Examining the military actions of sub-state actors in non-Western wars.
Many of the recent studies of insurgency have concentrated on 'counter-western' insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. This part of the project assesses how violent sub-state groups fight against non-Western states. For example, do non-state actors in Ukraine, Nigeria and Yemen fight in the same way as the Taliban did against NATO forces in Afghanistan? Are the effects of mediatisation of conflcit and power diffusion the same?
DE-CENTERING STRATEGIC CONCEPTS(?)
Critically examining the concepts used to assess contemporary warfare.
How effectively do Western strategic concepts such as asymmetry and hybridity capture conflict dynamics in non-Western wars? How do analysts in the different parts of the world use different concepts to assess contemporary warfare? How universal (or not) are Western concepts in their explanatory power? What other non-Western concepts deserve wider employment in the conflict/war studies literature?
For a fuller summary of my Marie Curie project please click the icon to the left.
Get in touch to learn more - ed.stoddard@port.ac.uk.
TEACHING AND LEADERSHIP
MY TEACHING AND LEADERSHIP ROLES AT PORTSMOUTH
At Portsmouth I coordinate the campus and Block Taught versions of the module 'Contemporary Security in International Relations' and teach on the MA modules 'Exploring IR' and 'Terrorism and Political Violence'. I teach on the first year undergraduate module 'Key Themes in International Relations' and 'The Making of the Global South' and the final year module 'Security Challenges in the 21st Century'.
Between 2017-18 and 2020-2021 I was Subject Leader for the Politics, IR and International Development teams. Between 2017 and 2018 I was a Cluster Leader (Citizenship, Governance and Security) for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Doctoral Training Partnership between the Universities of Portsmouth, Southampton and Brighton. Between 2019-2021 I was Lead of the Peace, Security and Conflict Research Group. I continue to be involved with PhD training on this programme via the PhD Training module 'Concepts and Methodologies for Area Studies'. I am on the supervisory team of 8 PhD students with five as first supervisor (Sophie Quintin Adali, Busra Nisa Sarac, Sorina Toltica, Gabriel Hassan and Fatai Alli).
For more in-depth descriptions, feel free to reach out - ed.stoddard@port.ac.uk.
(Photo@Spc. Zayid Ballesteros).
