Her work specializes in gendered interpretations of just war theory, feminist security studies, and women's violence in global politics.

She is editor of Gender and International Security: Feminist Perspectives (Routledge 2010), Rethinking the 21st Century: New Problems, Old Solutions (Zed Books 2009, with Amy Eckert), Feminist International Relations: Conversations about the Past, Present, and Future (Routledge 2011, with J. Ann Tickner), Gender, War, and Militarism: Feminist Perspectives (Praeger Security International, with Sandra Via), and Women, Gender, and Terrorism (University of Georgia Press 2012, with Caron Gentry).

She served as the Homebase Editor for the International Feminist Journal of Politics (with Cynthia Weber and Heidi Hudson), from 2011 until 2017.

She was a British Academy Global Professor of Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London from 2020 until 2024.

She holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in international relations and gender studies from the University of Southern California and a J.D.