Reader of Politics and International Studies

Email: c.s.browning@warwick.ac.uk
Tel: (024 765) 72556
Room: E1.08

ADVICE AND FEEDBACK HOURS:

TERM 1: Mon 10.30-11.30; Tues 09.30-10.30

TERM 2: Mon 10.30-11.30; Thurs 12.30-13.30

NB: A+F hours will be conducted via Teams so ensure you use the booking form to book a time.

Engagement

• 'Why are we supporting Ukraine? A cautionary note about vicarious war'Link opens in a new window, The Critic, May 2022 (pp.14-17).
• Quoted in Anna Cunningham, 'How the Brexit debacle has complicated what it means to be British'Link opens in a new window, CBC News 14 October 2019.
• 'Interview on Humour, Nation Branding and the Politics of Identity'Link opens in a new window, The Place Brand Observer (August 2019)
• 'Social Media Europe and the Rise of Comedy in Global DiplomacyLink opens in a new window', E-International Relations (October 2018)
• Quoted in Tom McTague 'British Jacobins on the march in Brexit revolution'Link opens in a new window, Politico, 17 September 2018.
• 'Existential anxiety: how Leave and Remain became badges of self-identityLink opens in a new window', LSE Brexit (10 September 2018)
• 'Cafe' (how can personal consumption affirm civilizational politics'Link opens in a new window, I-Peel (January 2018)
• Quoted in 'Suomi 99 vuotta' [Finland at 99 years], Ulkopolitiikka 4/2016
• Interview: 'Norden som favorit i politisk debatt'Link opens in a new window, Yggdrasil (20 December 2014)
• 'Suomettumisen Paluu'Link opens in a new window [The return of Finlandisation], Politiikasta.fi (17 October 2014).
• 'Suomen maabrändissä piilee hienoja mahdollisuuksia' [Finland's Country Brand has Hidden Opportunities], Turun Sanomat (27 February 2014)

 

Chris joined the department in August 2007. Prior to coming to Warwick he held positions at Copenhagen Peace Research Institute, the Danish Institute for International Studies, the University of Birmingham and Keele University. He has held visiting scholar/researcher positions at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, the University of Lapland, Tampere University, and most recently a visiting professorship at the University of Oslo as part of a project on Nordic Branding. He holds a PhD from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. He serves on the editorial boards of Cooperation and Conflict and Global Studies Quarterly and was previously Associate Editor/Acting Editor for the Journal of International Relations and Development.

His published work includes:

• Nordic Peace in Question: A Region of and for PeaceLink opens in a new window (Routledge, 2025). (Available open accessLink opens in a new window)
• Nation Branding and International PoliticsLink opens in a new window (McGill Queen's University Press, 2023)
• Vicarious Identity in International Relations: Self, Security, and Status on the Global StageLink opens in a new window (Oxford University Press, 2021) With Pertti Joenniemi and Brent Steele
• International Security: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2013)
• The Struggle for the West: A Divided and Contested Legacy (eds. with Marko Lehti) (Routledge, 2010)
• Constructivism, Narrative and Foreign Policy Analysis: A Case Study of Finland (Peter Lang, 2008)
• Remaking Europe in the Margins: Northern Europe after the Enlargements (ed.) (Ashgate, 2005)

He has published over 30 articles in international refereed journals and is editor of three journal Special Issues on subjects including 'Nation Branding and Competitive Identity in World Politics', 'Humour in Global Politics' and 'Baltic Sea Politics'. His research has appeared in journals including: Alternatives, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Cooperation and Conflict, European Journal of International Relations, European Security, Foreign Policy Analysis, Geopolitics, Journal of International Relations and Development, Nationalities Papers, Political Geography, Political Psychology, Problems of Post-Communism and Security Dialogue.

Research Interests

• Critical approaches to security (especially issues connected to identity, ontological security and anxiety)
• Critical geopolitics
• Borders, margins and hybrid spaces in international politics
• Nation branding, Humour and Public Diplomacy
• Nordic/Baltic regionalisation, European Neighbourhood, Civilizational politics, the identity politics of Brexit

Funding

• 'Art Diplomacy and Nation Branding: The Visual Politics of Reinventing China',Link opens in a new window Co-I. (with Jenifer Chao and Jiang Jiehong). Arts and Humanities Research Council.
• 'Humorous States: New Diplomacy and the Rise of Comedy in International Relations'Link opens in a new window, PI with James Brassett. British Academy Small Grant
• 'Nordic Branding'Link opens in a new window, Co-I, project lead Malcolm Langford. Funded by University of Oslo.
• Horizon 2020, 'European Leadership in Cultural, Science and Innovation DiplomacyLink opens in a new window' (EL-CSID)', work package project researcher.
• 'The Transatlantic Relationship and the Struggle for Europe'Link opens in a new window, PI, NORFACE
• Westphalia or New Hansa? The US, the EU and the unfolding of political space and world order. The case of the European North', Danish Social Science Research Council, Co-I with Pertti Joenniemi and Edward Rhodes.
• Visiting fellowships: University of Lapland, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Oslo University, Tampere University

Recent Articles

• (forthcoming) 'Lettuce Rejoice in the Downfall of Liz Truss? Humour, Ontological (In)Security and the Politics of Ridicule', Alternatives: Global, Local, Political. With James Brassett.
• (2024) "'Russian warship, go fuck yourself': Humour and the (geo)political limits of vicarious war', Cooperation and Conflict 59(3), pp.311-36. With James Brassett. (Open accessLink opens in a new window)
• (2023) 'China's cautious "facetuning": The art of cultural diplomacy and nation branding', Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art 10(3), pp.255-65.
• (2023) 'Anxiety, Humour and (Geo)Politics: Warfare by Other Memes', International Relations 37(1), pp.172-9. With James Brassett. (Open accessLink opens in a new window)
• (2022) 'Hierarchies of Heroism: Captain Tom, Spitfires, and the Limits of Militarised Vicarious Resilience during the Covid-19 Pandemic', Global Studies Quarterly 2(3). With Joseph Haigh. (Open accessLink opens in a new window)

Click here for a full list of publications

Completed PhDs

• Dogachan Dagi - 'Narrative Reconstruction of Strategic Culture: Russia under Putin and the Western Other'.
• Cristóbal Bywaters - 'The Domestic Politics of International Status: Two-Level Narrative Management and Struggles for International Recognition and Political Legitimacy in Chile (1973-2010)'. (Winner of the PSA Shirin M. Rai Dissertation Prize for International Relations 2023/2024).
• Nicolai Gellwitzki - 'Public Moods, Emerging Political Subjectivities, and Ontological Security: The German Response to the 'Migration Crisis'.
• Charlie Price - ' Who Controls the Border? An Analysis of the Nordic Far Right'.
• Joseph Haigh - 'Vicarious Militarism: Ontological (In)Security and the Politics of Vicarious Subjectivity in British War Commemoration' (Winner of the 2021 PSA Shirin M. Rai Dissertation Prize for International Relations 2020/2021).
• Lisa Soares - 'Recasting Rights in the Caribbean: The Formation of a Regional Fisheries Policy'.
• Johanna Vuorelma - 'Western Narratives of Losing Turkey'.
• Ilke Dagli - 'Securitization of Ethnic Communities in Contested States and its Implications for Reconciliation Processes: Can Desecuritization Facilitate Peace Processes?'
• Atsuko Watanabe - 'Geopolitics as Traveling Theory: The Evolution of Geopolitical Imagination in Japan, 1925-1945'.
• Jakub Eberle - 'Logics of Foreign Policy: Discourse, Fantasy and Germany's Policies in the Iraq Crisis' (Winner of the BISA Michael Nicholson Prize 2017)
• Oguzhan Yanarisik - 'The Role of Ideas, Perceptions and Emotions in Foreign Policy Change: The Turkish Case'.
• Elisa Lopez Lucia - 'Discourses and Practices of the Regionalisation of Foreign and Security Policies: The Cases of West Africa and South America'.
• Domenico Ferrara - 'EU-Russia Energy Relations: A Discursive Approach'.
• Eun-Jeong Cho - 'EURATOM: Nuclear Norm Competition between Allies, 1955-1957'.
• Caroline Kuzemko - 'Energy and Power: An Analysis of Energy Relations between Russia and the UK'.