Dr Aurélie Basha i Novosejt

Dr Aurélie Basha completed her undergraduate studies (BSc International Relations and History) and PhD at the London School of Economics in the International History department and has a Master in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School where she was a Fulbright Scholar. She was a Fellow at the London School of Economics and spent several years working in policy and philanthropy, before coming to the School of History at Kent in 2018.

Aurélie is a historian of US foreign policy. Her research looks at US national security policy, with a focus on the Vietnam War, civil–military relations and the interaction of defence policy with economics. Her book I Made Mistakes: Robert McNamara’s Vietnam Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2019) reconsidered US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara’s role in the Vietnam War. Her current research looks at the transition to an all-volunteer force.

Aurélie has received a number of grants and fellowships for her research, including a Majorie Kovler Fellowship from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Foundation, a George C. Marshall/Baruch Fellowship and a Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Foundation grant. 

Aurélie convenes and teaches on modules in stages one, two and three concerning American history from 1880 onwards and Cold War history.

Aurélie is happy to supervise dissertations on 20th-century US political and military history.