Paul K. MacDonald

Paul K. MacDonald is an American political scientist and a professor of political science at Wellesley College.^[1] He is known for his research on global power politics, U.S. foreign policy, and the political and military dimensions of overseas expansion.

Paul K. MacDonald
Occupation(s)	Professor of Political Science, Wellesley College
Academic background
Alma mater	B.A, University of California, Berkeley Ph.D, Columbia University
Academic work
Discipline	International Relations
Main interests	International Security Power Politics Imperialism U.S. Foreign Policy
Website	sites.google.com/a/wellesley.edu/paul-k-macdonald/about

His work has been widely published in the American Political Science Review, International Organization, International Security, Security Studies, The Washington Quarterly, Review of International Studies, The Washington Post, and Foreign Affairs.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] [10]} He is also a faculty member of the Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs, and an affiliate at the Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation.^[11][12]

In the Foreign Affairs review of MacDonald's book Networks of Domination: The Social Foundations of Peripheral Conquest in International Politics, G. John Ikenberry comments: "The book is a sober reminder that great military power and dreams of empire cannot guarantee control of even a small foreign country -- much less world domination."^[13] Jack Snyder similarly noted that MacDonald's research helps "sharpen the insights of those who think about grand strategy and those who study how social network patterns shape our world."^[14]

His most recent book, Twilight of the Titans: Great Power Decline and Retrenchment, challenges conventional international relations theories regarding great power transitions.^[15]

Education and career

MacDonald earned his B.A. in political science at the University of California, Berkeley in 1998 and his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 2007.^[1] He became an assistant professor at Williams College in 2008, and joined Wellesley College in 2011. He was awarded Wellesley College's highest teaching award, the Anna and Samuel Pinanski Teaching Prize, in 2018.^[16]

MacDonald has held research positions at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University, and the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University.^[17][18] In 2019, he was a visiting fellow at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.^[19]

Publications

Books

• Twilight of the Titans: Great Power Decline and Retrenchment. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2018.

• Networks of Domination: The Social Foundations of Peripheral Conquest in International Politics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014

Selected Journal Articles and Chapters

• "The Governor's Dilemma in Overseas Empires," in The Governor's Dilemma: Indirect Governance Beyond Principles and Agents, Kenneth Abbot, Bernhard Zangl, Duncan Snidal, and Philipp Genschel, eds. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020).

• "Embedded Authority: A Relational Network Approach to Hierarchy in World Politics," Review of International Studies, vol. 44, no. 1 (January 2018).^[20]
• "'Retribution Must Succeed Rebellion': The Colonial Origins of Counterinsurgency Failure," International Organization, vol. 67, no. 2 (April 2013)^[21]
• Paul K. MacDonald, Joseph M. Parent; Graceful Decline? The Surprising Success of Great Power Retrenchment. International Security 2011; 35 (4): 7–44. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00034 ^[22]
• "Useful Fiction or Miracle Maker: the Competing Epistemological Foundations of Rational Choice Theory," American Political Science Review, vol. 97, no. 4 (November 2003).^[23]

External links

• "The Return of Great Power Competition," panel discussion at CATO Institute. January 15, 2019

References

1. "Paul K. MacDonald". Wellesley College. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
2. MacDonald, Paul K.; Parent, Joseph M. (2020-10-19). "Trump Didn't Shrink U.S. Military Commitments Abroad—He Expanded Them". Foreign Affairs: America and the World. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
3. MacDonald, Paul K.; Parent, Joseph M. (2014-09-23). "The Retrenchment War". Foreign Affairs: America and the World. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
4. MacDonald, Paul K.; Parent, Joseph M. (2014-03-10). "The Banality of Retrenchment". Foreign Affairs: America and the World. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
5. Parent, Joseph M.; MacDonald, Paul K. (2015-08-12). "The Wisdom of Retrenchment". Foreign Affairs: America and the World. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
6. MacDonald, Paul K. (2013). ""Retribution Must Succeed Rebellion": The Colonial Origins of Counterinsurgency Failure". International Organization. 67 (2): 253–286. doi:10.1017/S0020818313000027. ISSN 0020-8183. JSTOR 43283302. S2CID 154683722.
7. "Trump Didn't Shrink U.S. Military Commitments Abroad—He Expanded Them". Foreign Affairs. 2019-12-03. Retrieved 2023-02-05.
8. "The Wisdom of Retrenchment". Foreign Affairs. 2011-10-14. Retrieved 2023-02-05.
9. "Analysis | Biden wants to tap friends and party loyalists to fill high-level ambassadorships. That's nothing new". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-02-05.
10. MacDonald, Paul K.; Parent, Joseph M. (2018-07-03). "The Road to Recovery: How Once Great Powers Became Great Again". The Washington Quarterly. 41 (3): 21–39. doi:10.1080/0163660X.2018.1519346. ISSN 0163-660X.
11. "Paul K. MacDonald | Albright Institute". www.wellesley.edu. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
12. "Paul MacDonald". cisac.fsi.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
13. "Networks of Domination: The Social Foundations of Peripheral Conquest in International Politics". Foreign Affairs: America and the World. 2014-09-30. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
14. Networks of Domination: The Social Foundations of Peripheral Conquest in International Politics. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. 2014-06-12. ISBN 978-0-19-936216-5.
15. Schake, Kori (2018-11-24). "Managing American Decline". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-02-05.
16. "Pinanski Prize". Wellesley College. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
17. "Paul K. MacDonald". cisac.fsi.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
18. "Paul K. MacDonald". Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
19. "Prof. Paul K. MacDonald, Ph.D. - Center for Advanced Studies LMU (CAS) - LMU Munich". www.en.cas.uni-muenchen.de. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
20. MacDonald, Paul K. (January 2018). "Embedded authority: a relational network approach to hierarchy in world politics". Review of International Studies. 44 (1): 128–150. doi:10.1017/S0260210517000213. ISSN 0260-2105.
21. MacDonald, Paul K. (2013). ""Retribution Must Succeed Rebellion": The Colonial Origins of Counterinsurgency Failure". International Organization. 67 (2): 253–286. ISSN 0020-8183.
22. MacDonald, Paul K.; Parent, Joseph M. (April 2011). "Graceful Decline? The Surprising Success of Great Power Retrenchment". International Security. 35 (4): 7–44. doi:10.1162/isec_a_00034. ISSN 0162-2889.
23. MacDonald, Paul K. (2003). "Useful Fiction or Miracle Maker: The Competing Epistemological Foundations of Rational Choice Theory". The American Political Science Review. 97 (4): 551–565. ISSN 0003-0554.