Understanding Ideology, Violence and Extremism in
Global Politics
about me
I am a Reader (Associate Professor) in International Politics at King's College London's Department of Political Economy, and Associate Dean (People & Culture) for King's Faculty of Social Sciences and Public Policy. I also convene the Contemporary and Historical Ideological Competition in World Politics Research Network (CHIC).
From January 2027, I will also be a British Academy Mid-Career Fellow, and a Visiting Fellow at the Remarque Institute at New York University.
From 2023 to 2025, I also served as a Parliamentary Academic Fellow advising the International Affairs Unit of the UK Parliament.
From January 2027, I will also be a British Academy Mid-Career Fellow, and a Visiting Fellow at the Remarque Institute at New York University.
From 2023 to 2025, I also served as a Parliamentary Academic Fellow advising the International Affairs Unit of the UK Parliament.
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My research is primarily in qualitative political science, and focuses on the role of ideology in political violence and international conflict, especially forms of violence against civilians such as genocides, mass atrocities and terrorism.
I also work more broadly on a range of subjects relating to ideology, international politics and political extremism, and have secondary research interests in political and ethical theories of political violence and political speech, and on methodological debates in political theory and political science. You can see my KCL profile on the Department of Political Economy website here. Follow me on X at @jleadermaynard. |
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my booksMy first book, Ideology and Mass Killing: The Radicalized Security Politics of Genocides and Deadly Atrocities was published by Oxford University Press in 2022.
For full info, click here. An pre-proof version of the introductory chapter is available for free here. You can also listen to my New Books Network podcast on the book for free here. Ideology and Mass Killing was a finalist for the 2023 Raphael Lemkin Prize for the best book in Genocide Studies In addition, I co-edited the new Routledge Handbook of Ideology and International Relations with Mark L. Haas - bringing together thirty three leading scholars to summarize and advance leading research on ideology's role in different aspects of world politics. The Handbook was released on 25 October 2022 - full info here. |
the CHIC network on ideological competition
"The world has become more polarized ideologically. Political and economic liberalism, which shaped the unipolar post–Cold War period … is increasingly contested from within, as demonstrated by the rise of nationalist populism in many liberal democracies. But it is also challenged from without, as evidenced in a growing ideological bifurcation between democracies and autocracies."
- 2025 Munich Security Report
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I now convene a research network on Contemporary and Historical Ideological Competition in World Politics (CHIC), established in 2023 thanks to funding from the UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council.
As the 2025 Munich Security Report observes in the quote above, the growth of ideological competition within and between states is one of the key challenges the world today. The CHIC network's goal is to further research and knowledge exchange on this challenge, by studying the ways in which changing patterns of ideological competition shape global politics across the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries. The network contains over 50 members across 9 countries, including academics, policy practitioners, and civil society representatives. You can find out more information here. |
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media inquiries
I have written for or appeared on a range of national and international news media, including the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Al Jazeera News, The Independent newspaper, and The New Statesman.
For media inquiries, please contact me using my professional email at the bottom of this page.
For media inquiries, please contact me using my professional email at the bottom of this page.