03/09/2026
By Laura Homann-Charette
Candidate Name: Laura Homann-Charrette
Degree (check as appropriate): (X)Doctoral ( )Master’s
Defense Date: Monday, March 30, 2026
Time: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Health and Social Sciences Building, Room 325
Thesis/Dissertation Title: “Biopolitcs and the Female Soliders’ Bodies – A Cross-National Comparison of NATO Member States”
Dissertation Committee
Dissertation Chair: Angélica Durán-Martínez, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Science, Director of Global Studies Ph.D. program, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Arie Perliger, Ph.D., Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell, School of Criminology and Justice Studies
Aaron Smith-Walter, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Brief Abstract: What explains variation in women's military inclusion across NATO member states? This dissertation addresses this question by examining and comparing how militaries govern the female body via formal policy, from physical standards to maternity leave. Drawing on Foucault's concept of biopolitics, it argues that these policies act as institutional gatekeepers, determining the conditions under which women can serve. To operationalize this argument, it introduces the Biopolitical Regulation Index (BRI), the first systematic framework for comparing gender body-regulating policies across all 27 NATO member states. Using both cross-national data (2014–2022) and a case study of the German Bundeswehr, the findings show that more inclusive body-regulating policies are linked to higher women's representation and that understanding this variation requires looking at two different pathways of inclusion (democratic quality and socialist-era institutional legacies) as well as the concrete triggers and timing of policy change.