Kirstin J.H. Brathwaite is an assistant professor of international relations at James Madison College, Michigan State University. She is interested in questions of identity and military conflict. She has published on ethnic identity and civil war, while her current research focuses on the role of national identity in military combat effectiveness and the influence of gender, race, and ethnic identities on civil-military relations. She holds an MA from Queens University Belfast and a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame.