Dr Jamie Gaskarth

Department of Political Science and International Studies
Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0) 121 414 3423
Email: j.b.gaskarth@bham.ac.uk

Address: School of Government and Society
Muirhead Tower
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Jamie Gaskarth writes and teaches on practical ethical problems in foreign policy and security and he is the author/editor of six books on international relations and foreign policy.

Jamie has provided policy advice to a number of UK government departments, had evidence published for parliamentary inquiries on Global Britain, the National Security Strategy and UK soft power, and been awarded research grants from the British Academy and ESRC looking into British foreign policy and the rising powers and international society respectively. He is ISA English School Section Chair, on the editorial board of the ISA journal Foreign Policy Analysis, and will be Co-Editor of the ISA Journal of Global Security Studies from January 2020.

Previously he was appointed Visiting Professor at Sciences Po, Lyon in 2018, elected trustee of the British International Studies Association 2013-2015, Convenor of the BISA Foreign Policy working group, 2008-2014 and Visiting Scholar at Berkeley, UC in 2011.

Staff details
Media information

Qualifications

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Postgraduate Certificate in LTHE, 2008
PhD in Politics, Exeter University, 2005
MA in International Relations, Exeter University (Distinction), 2000
BA Hons English Literature, Cardiff University, 1998

Biography

Dr Jamie Gaskarth has been writing and teaching on international relations and foreign policy since 2000. He began his career at the University of Exeter before becoming Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Plymouth in 2005. He was subsequently appointed Associate Professor as well as Deputy and Acting Director of the School of Government.

In January 2016 he was appointed Senior Lecturer at the University of Birmingham, teaching modules on diplomacy and statecraft, diplomatic history, the ethics of political violence and strategy and decision-making. His research focuses on practical ethical problems in foreign policy and security and he is the author/editor of six books on international relations and foreign policy. Jamie has provided policy advice to a number of UK government departments, submitted evidence to parliamentary inquiries on the National Security Strategy and UK soft power, and been awarded research grants from the British Academy and ESRC looking into British foreign policy and the rising powers and international society respectively. He is ISA English School Section Chair, on the editorial board of the ISA journal Foreign Policy Analysis, and will be Co-Editor of the ISA Journal of Global Security Studies from January 2020. Previously he was appointed Visiting Professor at Sciences Po, Lyon in 2018, elected trustee of the British International Studies Association 2013-2015, Convenor of the BISA Foreign Policy working group, 2008-2014 and Visiting Scholar at Berkeley, UC in 2011.

Teaching

Current Teaching:

POLS350 Strategy and Decision-making

MA Module: Strategy and Leadership (from 2021).

Previous modules at Birmingham:

G27 Diplomacy and Statecraft

G52H Ethical Dimensions of Terrorism, Political Violence and War

G9 Diplomatic History

POLS218 International Security

Postgraduate supervision

Currently supervising at the University of Birmingham:

Gavin Hall, ‘How Institutions Matter:An Exploration of NATO via the Development of Cyber, COIN & CIMIC Doctrine and Strategy’.

Chris Featherstone, ‘Can Foreign Policy Analysis models adequately explain the decision-making process and the decision to intervene and not to intervene in the cases of Iraq 2003 and Syria between 2011 and 2014?’

Reem Mohammad Ibrahim Mohammad Alshamsi, ‘Counterrorist Financing’. Funded by UAE government.

Alice Spilman, awarded SRC Midlands Graduate School DTP studentship to study at the University of Birmingham in collaboration with the British American Security Information Council (BASIC).

Previous successful supervision:

Ben Nutt, ‘A Search For Justice: An Analysis of Purpose, Process and Stakeholder Practice at the International Criminal Court’. Plymouth University, 2018.

Nicola Langdon, ‘Foreign Policy and Intervention: the influence of the media’. Plymouth University, 2018.

Nichola Harmer, ‘Distant Relations: A Study of Identity, Ethics and Power in the Relationship between Britain and the United Kingdom Overseas Territories’, Plymouth University, 2012.

Ian Murphy, ‘Private Military Companies, Peacekeeping, and African States: A Critical Analysis of PMCs in Peacekeeping Operations in Africa’. ESRC-funded, Plymouth University, 2010.

Research

Research interests

Dr Gaskarth's primary research interests are in foreign policy, security, international ethics and the implications for international society of the rise of new powers.

His most recent project involved researching strategy and British foreign policy as a backdrop to the SDSR/National Security Strategy 2015. He co-organized a workshop with Prof Tim Edmunds of the Global Insecurity Centre, University of Bristol and Dr Oliver Daddow, University of Chichester hosted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in June 2015.

In December 2015 he edited a special section on strategy and foreign and defence policy for the RUSI journal as well as publishing an article on strategy in a complex world.

Prior to this he arranged three seminars at Chatham House, King’s College, London and Plymouth University exploring the rising powers and their normative impact on international society. The project website is here: http://www.risingpowersglobalresponses.com/

Research grants awarded:

Principal Investigator, British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant, 'Holding the intelligence and security services accountable'. Awarded £8,032, 2015-2017.

Principal Investigator, ESRC Research Seminar Grant: 'Normative challenges to international society: rising powers and global responses'. Awarded £17,002, 2012-2014.

Principal Investigator, British Academy Conference Support Grant for FCO Workshop. Awarded £3,290 (2010).

Current projects

Dr Gaskarth is currently working on research looking into holding the intelligence and security services accountable. He is also interested in exploring notions of responsibility and accountability in relation to shifts in global economic and social power.

Other activities

Appointed Co-Editor of Journal of Global Security Studies, to commence in January 2020.

Appointed Visiting Professor, Sciences Po, Lyon, 2018.

Written evidence published by Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry on Global Britain, April 2018.

Elected English School Section Chair, International Studies Association, 2018-2020.

Invited Speaker to the Advanced Command and Staff College, Defence Academy, Shrivenham on ‘Strategic Risk, National Strategy and British Defence Policy', January 2017, 2018 and 2019.

External consultant for curriculum reviews at Swansea and Manchester Metropolitan Universities (both in June 2017).

Contributor to the Raisina Dialogue, arranged by the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Observer Research Foundation to discuss emerging trends in Asia, January 2017.

Member of the academic consultative group for the UK National Security Strategy. Participated in briefings with the National Security Advisor and National Security Council Secretariat, July and September 2014, July 2015, October 2016.

British International Studies Association (BISA), Foreign Policy Working Group Convenor, 2008-2015.External reviewer for partnership agreement between Financial University, Moscow and London Metropolitan University, January 2015.

Submitted written evidence to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (September 2014).

Submitted written evidence to House of Lords Select Committee on Soft Power and the UK’s influence. Cited 11 times in final report Power and Persuasion in the Modern World, 28 March 2014.

Invited speaker at British Academy symposium on UK foreign policy and soft power, 11 July 2013.

External examiner for undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes, Leeds University (2013-2016) and Reading University (2015-2018).

Elected Trustee of British International Studies Association, 2013- 2015. Member of the Research Committee and Website Committee.

Publications

BOOKS

Gaskarth, J. Intelligence, Secrecy and Dilemmas of Accountability in the UK (London/Washington, D.C.: Chatham House/ Brookings Institution, 2019).

Gaskarth, J. (ed) China, India and the Future of International Society (London: Rowman and Littlefield, 2015).

Gaskarth, J. (ed) Rising Powers, Global Governance and Global Ethics (London: Routledge, 2015).

Edmunds, T., Gaskarth, J., and Porter, R. (eds) British Foreign Policy and the National Interest: Identity, Strategy and Security (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2014).

Gaskarth, J. British Foreign Policy: crises, conflicts and future challenges (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013).

Daddow, O., and Gaskarth, J. (eds) British Foreign Policy: the New Labour Years (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2011).

ARTICLES IN PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS

Gaskarth, J. and Oppermann, K. ‘Clashing Traditions and German Foreign Policy in a New Era’ International Studies Perspectives, accepted for publication in April 2019.

Gaskarth, J. ‘Rising Powers, Responsibility and International Society’, Ethics & International Affairs, Vol: 31, No. 3, (2017), 287-311.

Gaskarth, J. ‘The fiasco of the 2013 Syria votes: decline and denial in British foreign policy’ Journal of European Public Policy, Vol: 23, No. 5, (2016), 718-734.

Gaskarth, J. ‘Strategy in a Complex World’ RUSI Journal, Vol: 160, No. 6, (2015), 4-11.

With Leech, P. ‘British Foreign Policy and the Arab Spring’ Diplomacy and Statecraft, Vol: 26, No. 1, (March 2015), 139-160.

With Harmer, N., and Gibb, R. ‘Distant relations: identity and materiality in elite discourse on Britain’s Overseas Territories’, Global Society, Vol: 29, No. 4, (2015), 510-529.

With Edmunds, T. and Porter, R., ‘Introduction’ in special issue, ‘British foreign policy and the national interest’, International Affairs Vol: 90, No.3 (May 2014), 503-507.

Gaskarth, J. ‘Strategizing Britain’s Role in the World’ International Affairs Vol: 90, No. 3 (May, 2014), 559-581.

Gaskarth, J. ‘Interpreting ethical foreign policy: traditions and dilemmas for policymakers’ British Journal of Politics and International Relations Vol: 15, No. 2 (May, 2013), 191-209.

Gaskarth, J. ‘The Virtues in International Society’ European Journal of International Relations Vol: 18, No. 3 (Sept 2012), 431-453.

Gaskarth, J. ‘Entangling Alliances: the UK’s complicity in torture in the global war on terrorism’ International Affairs Vol: 87, No. 4 (July 2011), 945-964.

Gaskarth, J. 'Where would we be without rules? A Virtue Ethics approach to foreign policy analysis' Review of International Studies Vol: 37, No. 1 (Jan 2011), 393-415.

Gaskarth, J. 'Discourses and ethics: the social construction of British foreign policy' Foreign Policy Analysis Vol: 2, No. 4 (Oct 2006), 325-341.

Gaskarth, J. ‘Ethical policies or empty promises? New labour and human rights in British foreign policymaking’, International Journal of Human Rights, Vol: 10, No. 1, (2006), 45-60.

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

British foreign and defence policy, intelligence studies, security studies, international relations, contemporary British politics.

Languages and other information

Dr Gaskarth has contributed to, and been cited by, a number of parliamentary committee inquiries. For seven years he was the British International Studies Association’s Foreign Policy Working Group Convenor.

Media experience

Dr Gaskarth has offered expert opinion for BBC Lunchtime News, CCTV America, BBC Radio, BBC Spotlight and has written commentary for the New Statesman, Western Morning News, The Herald, The Conversation, and the French language magazine Diplomatie,