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Associate Professor Matt McDonald

Associate Professor

School of Political Science and International Studies
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
matt.mcdonald@uq.edu.au
+61 7 336 53042

Overview

Reader in International Relations

Matt McDonald joined the School of Political Science and International Studies in January 2010. After completing his PhD at UQ in 2003, Matt held lectureship posts in international relations at the University of New South Wales and the University of Birmingham (UK), and was Associate Professor in International Security at the University of Warwick (UK). His research focuses on critical theoretical approaches to security and their application to issues such as environmental change, Australian foreign and security policy, climate politics and Asia-Pacific security dynamics. He has published on these themes in journals such as European Journal of International Relations, Political Geography, Review of International Studies, International Theory, Security Dialogue, International Political Sociology and Australian Journal of Political Science. He is the author of Security, the Environment and Emancipation (Routledge 2012) and (with Anthony Burke and Katrina Lee-Koo) Ethics and Global Security (Routledge 2014). He is co-editor of Australian Journal of Politics and History.

Selected Publications

Books (Authored)

  • (with Anthony Burke and Katrina Lee-Koo), Ethics and Global Security: A Cosmopolitan Approach (Routledge, 2014)
  • Security, the Environment and Emancipation: Contestation over Environmental Change (Routledge, 2012).

Edited Volumes

  • (with Paul Williams), Security Studies: An Introduction, 3rd ed (Routledge, 2018)
  • (with Mark Beeson), The Politics of Climate Change in Australia. Special Issue of Australian Journal of Politics and History, 59:3 (2013).
  • (with Tim Dunne), The Politics of Liberal Internationalism, Special Issue of International Politics, 50:1 (2013).
  • (with Anthony Burke), Critical Security in the Asia-Pacific (Manchester UP, 2007).

Refereed Journal Articles

  • ‘Climate Change and Security: Towards an Ecological Security Discourse?’, International Theory, 10:2 (2018), 153-80.
  • ‘Critical Security in the Asia-Pacific: An Introduction’, Critical Studies on Security, 5:3 (2017), 237-52.
  • ‘Remembering Gallipoli: Anzac, the Great War and Australian Memory Politics’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 63:3 (2017), pp.405-17.
  • (with Lee Wilson) ‘Trouble in Paradise? Citizen Militia Groups in Bali, Indonesia’, Security Dialogue, 48:3 (2017), pp.241-58.
  • ‘Bourdieu, Environmental NGOs and Australian Climate Politics’, Environmental Politics, 25:6 (2016), pp.1058-78.
  • (with Anthony Burke and Katrina Lee-Koo) 'Ethics and Global Security', Journal of Global Security Studies,1:1 (2016), pp. 64-79
  • 'Australian Foreign Policy under the Abbott Government: Foreign Policy as Domestic Politics?' Australian Journal of International Affairs 69:6 (2015), pp 651-669.
  • ‘Discourses of Climate Security’, Political Geography, 33 (2013), pp.43-51.
  • (with Christopher S. Browning),‘The Future of Critical Security Studies: Ethics and the Politics of Security’, European Journal of International Relations 19:2 (2013), pp.235-55.
  • 'The Failed Securitization of Climate Change in Australia’, Australian Journal of Political Science, 47:4 (2012), pp.579-92.
  • ‘Lest we Forget: The Politics of Memory and Australian Military Intervention’, International Political Sociology, 4:3 (2010), pp.287-302.
  • 'Securitization and the Construction of Security', European Journal of International Relations, 14:4 (2008), pp.563-87.
  • (with Katharine Gelber) ‘Ethics and Exclusion: Representations of Sovereignty in Australia’s Approach to Asylum-Seekers’, Review of International Studies, 32:2 (2006), pp.269-89.
  • ‘Fair Weather Friend? Australia’s Approach to Global Climate Change’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 51:2 (2005), pp. 216-34.
  • ‘Human Security and the Construction of Security’, Global Society, 16:3 (2002), pp. 277-95.

Media

Matt has been interviewed on television and radio, and has contributed opinion editorials to The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Literary Review, Australian Outlook, ABC's The Drum, Insight and is a regular contributor to The Conversation. For his recent articles in The Conversation, see here: https://www.theconversation.com/profiles/matt-mcdonald-12655/articles

Research Interests

  • The relationship between security and environmental change
  • Australian foreign and security policy
  • The politics of climate change in Australia
  • Critical approaches to security

Research Impacts

On climate change, and in particular its relationship to security, Matt has acted as a consultant for the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office and prominent public policy thinktanks such as the Royal United Services Institute (UK), and his work has been cited in publications by representatives of UK's Department for International Development (Harris 2012). He has been a member of Australia's stakeholder briefing group for the UNFCCC climate change talks. He has also worked with policy-makers, industry groups and NGO representatives in communicating research work on the politics of climate change in Australia. He hosted a dedicated interdisciplinary workshop on this theme at UQ in 2012.

Matt has contributed to broader public debate on issues relating to climate change and Australian foreign policy through media work, in particular opinion editorial publications in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Literary Review, ABC's The Drum, The Conversation and the Lowy Interpreter. And he has been invited to present his research in Australia and beyond: a combination of seminars and public lectures at leading institutions in Australia (ANU, Sydney, UNSW, Griffith), the UK (Warwick, St Andrews, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Queen Mary, Leeds, Nottingham, Aberystwyth, Leicester) and mainland Europe (Copenhagen, Sciences Po Paris, Geneva, Hamburg).

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
  • Master of International Relations & Asain Politics, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor of Arts, The University of Queensland

Publications

View all Publications

Grants

View all Grants

Supervision

  • The Politics of International Legitimacy: Indonesia¿s and Sri Lanka¿s Justifications for the Use of Force

    Doctor Philosophy

  • Dragon or Panda? The United States and the Macrosecuritisation of the "China Threat"

    Doctor Philosophy

  • The Rudd/Gillard Government, Asylum Seekers, and the Politics of Norm Contestation

    Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Publications

Featured Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • An Introduction to Security Studies

    Williams, Paul D. and McDonald, Matt (2018). An Introduction to Security Studies. In Wiliams, Paul D. and McDonald, Matt (Ed.), Security Studies: An Introduction 3rd ed. (pp. 1-13) London, United Kingdom: Routledge.

  • Constructivisms

    McDonald, Matt (2018). Constructivisms. In Wiliams, Paul D. and McDonald, Matt (Ed.), Security Studies: An Introduction. 3rd edition 3rd ed. (pp. 48-59) London: Routledge.

  • Ecological Security

    McDonald, Matt (2017). Ecological Security. In Clara Eroukhmanhoff and Matt Harker (Ed.), Reflections on the posthuman in international relations: The anthropocene, security and ecology (pp. 62-72) Bristol, United Kingdom: E-International Relations.

  • Introduction

    McDonald, Matt and Mitchell, Audra (2017). Introduction. In Clara Eroukhmanhoff and Matt Harker (Ed.), Reflections on the posthuman in international relations (pp. 1-8) Bristol, United Kingdom: E-International Relations.

  • Australia and Global Climate Change

    McDonald, Matt (2016). Australia and Global Climate Change. In Steve Smith, Amelia Hadfield and Tim Dunne (Ed.), Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases 3rd ed. (pp. 394-410) Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

  • Whose security? Ethics and the referent

    McDonald, Matt (2016). Whose security? Ethics and the referent. In Anthony Burke and Jonna Nyman (Ed.), Ethical security studies: a new research agenda (pp. 32-45) London, United Kingdom: Routledge.

  • Australia and climate change

    Eckersley, Robyn and McDonald, Matt (2014). Australia and climate change. In Daniel Baldino, Andrew Carr and Anthony Langlois (Ed.), Australian foreign policy : controversies and debates (pp. 230-251) South Melboure, Vic., Australia: Oxford University Press.

  • Constructivism, US foreign policy, and counterterrorism

    Jackson, Richard and McDonald, Matt (2014). Constructivism, US foreign policy, and counterterrorism. In Inderjeet Parmar, Linda B. Miller and Mark Ledwidge (Ed.), Obama and the world : new directions in US foreign policy 2nd ed. (pp. 15-28) New York, NY United States: Routledge.

  • Contesting border security: emancipation and asylum in the Australian context

    McDonald, Matt (2014). Contesting border security: emancipation and asylum in the Australian context. In Thierry Balzacq (Ed.), Contesting Security: Strategies and logics (pp. 154-168) Abington, Oxon, UK: Routledge.

  • Australia and global climate change

    McDonald, Matt (2012). Australia and global climate change. In Steve Smith, Amelia Hadfield and Tim Dunne (Ed.), Foreign policy: theories, actors, cases 2nd ed. (pp. 384-399) Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

  • Human security and the politics of security

    McDonald, Matt (2012). Human security and the politics of security. In Dennis Altman, Joseph A. Camilleri, Robyn Eckersley and Gerhard Hoffstaedter (Ed.), Why human security matters (pp. 107-126) Crows Nest, NSW, Australia: Allen & Unwin.

  • Australian identity, interventionism and the War on Terror

    Holland, Jack and McDonald, Matt (2010). Australian identity, interventionism and the War on Terror. In Asaf Siniver (Ed.), International Terrorism Post-9/11 (pp. 184-206) London & New York: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203852002

  • The environment and global security

    McDonald, Matt (2010). The environment and global security. In Pinar Bilgin and Paul D. Williams (Ed.), Global security and international political economy (pp. 283-305) Oxford, U.K.: UNESCO; EOLSS Publishers.

  • Constructivism, US foreign policy and the 'war on terror'

    Jackson, Richard and McDonald, Matt (2009). Constructivism, US foreign policy and the 'war on terror'. In Inderjeet Parmar, Linda B. Miller and Mark Ledwidge (Ed.), New directions in US foreign policy (pp. 18-31) London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203878811

  • Emancipation and critical terrorism studies

    McDonald, Matt (2009). Emancipation and critical terrorism studies. In Richard Jackson, Marie Breen Smyth and Jeroen Gunning (Ed.), Critical Terrorism Studies: A New Research Agenda (pp. 109-123) London: Routledge.

  • Constructivism

    McDonald, Matt (2008). Constructivism. In Paul D. Williams (Ed.), Security studies: An introduction (pp. 59-72) Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, U.K.: Routledge.

  • Global security after September 11 2001

    McDonald, Matt (2008). Global security after September 11 2001. In Simon Carter, Tim Jordan and Sophie Watson (Ed.), Security: Sociology and Social Worlds (pp. 47-80) Manchester: Manchester University Press.

  • Introduction: Asia-Pacific security legacies and futures

    Burke, Anthony and McDonald, Matt (2007). Introduction: Asia-Pacific security legacies and futures. In Anthony Burke and Matt McDonald (Ed.), Critical Security in the Asia-Pacific (pp. 1-9) Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press.

  • US Hegemony, the War on Terror and the Asia-Pacific

    McDonald, Matt (2007). US Hegemony, the War on Terror and the Asia-Pacific. In Anthony Burke and Matt McDonald (Ed.), Critical security in the Asia Pacific (pp. 198-211) Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Journal Article

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • The Politics of International Legitimacy: Indonesia¿s and Sri Lanka¿s Justifications for the Use of Force

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Dragon or Panda? The United States and the Macrosecuritisation of the "China Threat"

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • The Rudd/Gillard Government, Asylum Seekers, and the Politics of Norm Contestation

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Debating Ebola: Contestation and Construction in the US Securitization of the 2014-2015 West African Outbreak

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Middle Powers and the Re-negotiation of Regional Order in East Asia: The Case of Indonesia

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • The problem of securitizing refugees: migration, identity, and ontological security

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Containing the climate change debate: Hegemony and domination in Australian climate justice discourse

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

Completed Supervision

This staff member is a UQ Expert for media in the following fields:

Australian foreign policy, International security, climate politics

They are happy to lend their expertise to your articles or broadcasts and share their research discoveries and insights with the community via media channels.

For additional assistance with story ideas, general advice and information or help with seeking further experts, please email the UQ Media Team or telephone (07) 3365 1120.

Links

ResearcherID: F-8833-2014

ORCID: 0000-0001-6636-2731

Scopus ID: 8583057900

Google Scholar ID: qLucUV0AAAAJ

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