School of Political Science & International Studies

Professor Matt McDonald

Director Teaching & Learning Committee
Professor
School of Political Science and International Studies
+61 7 336 53042
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Researcher biography

Professor of International Relations

Matt McDonald joined the School of Political Science and International Studies in January 2010, and is the current Director of Teaching and Learning. 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 a wide range of journsls, and s the author of Ecological Security: Climate Change and the Construction of Security (Cambridge UP, 2021), Security, the Environment and Emancipation (Routledge 2012) and (with Anthony Burke and Katrina Lee-Koo) Ethics and Global Security (Routledge 2014). He was formerly co-editor of Australian Journal of Politics and History. He is currently completing an ARC-funded project on comparative national approaches to the climate change- security relationship. He is currently leading the cross-disciplinary University research network, Climate Politics and Policy.

Selected Publications

Books (Authored)

  • Ecological Security: Climate Change and the Construction of Security (Cambridge UP, 2021)
  • (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, 4th ed (Routledge, 2023)
  • (with Paul Williams), Security Studies: An Introduction, 3rd ed (Routledge, 2018)
  • Critical Security in the Asia-Pacific. Special Issue of Critical Studies on Security, 5:3 (2017).
  • (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

  • 'Immovable Objects? Impediments to a UN Security Council Resolution on Climate Change', International Affairs, 99:4 (2023), pp.1635-51.
  • 'Geoengineering, Climate Change and Ecological Security', Environmental Politics, 32:4 (2023), 565-85.
  • (with Jessica Kirk), 'The Politics of Exceptionalism: Securitization and COVID-19', Global Studies Quarterly, 1:3 (2021).
  • 'After the Fires? Climate Change and Security in Australia', Australian Journal of Political Science, 56:1 (2021), 1-18.
  • '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 ABC News, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Literary Review, Australian Outlook, ABC's The Drum, Insight, the Lowy Interpreter 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

Publications

Books (3)
Book Chapters (26)
Journal Articles (54)
Thesis (1)

Books

McDonald, Matt (2021). Ecological security: climate change and the construction of security. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009024495
Burke, Anthony, Lee-Koo, Katrina and McDonald, Matt (2014). Ethics and global security: a cosmopolitan approach. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203071304
McDonald, Matt (2012). Security, the environment and emancipation: contestation over environmental change. Oxon, U. K.: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203805138

Book Chapters

McDonald, Matt (2024). The climate change-security nexus: a critical security studies perspective. Climate change and conflict in the Pacific: challenges and responses. (pp. 1-12) edited by Ria Shibata, Carroll Seforosa and Volker Boege. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003001744-3
McDonald, Matt (2023). Climate change and ecological security. Handbook on climate change and international security. (pp. 51-64) edited by Maria J. Trombetta. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar. doi: 10.4337/9781789906448.00010
Williams, Paul D. and McDonald, Matt (2023). An introduction to security studies. Security studies: an introduction. (pp. 26-39) edited by Paul D. Williams and Matt McDonald. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003247821-1
McDonald, Matt (2023). Constructivisms. Security studies: an introduction. (pp. 52-66) edited by Paul D. Williams and Matt McDonald. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003247821-5
McDonald, Matt and Dalby, Simon (2023). Environmental change. Security studies: an introduction. (pp. 599-614) edited by Paul D. Williams and Matt McDonald. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003247821-39
McDonald, Matt (2021). Protecting the Vulnerable: Towards an Ecological Approach to Security. International Relations in the Anthropocene: New Agendas, New Agencies and New Approaches. (pp. 191-208) Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-53014-3_11
McDonald, Matt (2018). Ethics and critical security studies. Routledge handbook of ethics and international relations. (pp. 196-207) edited by Brent J. Steele and Eric A. Heinze. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315725932-17
Williams, Paul D. and McDonald, Matt (2018). An Introduction to Security Studies. Security Studies: An Introduction. (pp. 1-13) edited by Wiliams, Paul D. and McDonald, Matt. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.
McDonald, Matt (2018). Constructivisms. Security Studies: An Introduction. 3rd edition. (pp. 48-59) edited by Wiliams, Paul D. and McDonald, Matt. London: Routledge.
McDonald, Matt and Mitchell, Audra (2017). Introduction. Reflections on the posthuman in international relations. (pp. 1-8) edited by Clara Eroukhmanhoff and Matt Harker. Bristol, United Kingdom: E-International Relations.
McDonald, Matt (2017). Ecological Security. Reflections on the posthuman in international relations: The anthropocene, security and ecology. (pp. 62-72) edited by Clara Eroukhmanhoff and Matt Harker. Bristol, United Kingdom: E-International Relations.
McDonald, Matt (2016). Australia and Global Climate Change. Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases. (pp. 394-410) edited by Steve Smith, Amelia Hadfield and Tim Dunne. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
McDonald, Matt (2016). Whose security? Ethics and the referent. Ethical security studies: a new research agenda. (pp. 32-45) edited by Anthony Burke and Jonna Nyman. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Jackson, Richard and McDonald, Matt (2014). Constructivism, US foreign policy, and counterterrorism. Obama and the world : new directions in US foreign policy. (pp. 15-28) edited by Inderjeet Parmar, Linda B. Miller and Mark Ledwidge. New York, NY United States: Routledge.
Eckersley, Robyn and McDonald, Matt (2014). Australia and climate change. Australian foreign policy : controversies and debates. (pp. 230-251) edited by Daniel Baldino, Andrew Carr and Anthony Langlois. South Melboure, Vic., Australia: Oxford University Press.
McDonald, Matt (2014). Contesting border security: emancipation and asylum in the Australian context. Contesting Security: Strategies and logics. (pp. 154-168) edited by Thierry Balzacq. Abington, Oxon, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203079850-19
McDonald, Matt (2012). Australia and global climate change. Foreign policy: theories, actors, cases. (pp. 384-399) edited by Steve Smith, Amelia Hadfield and Tim Dunne. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
McDonald, Matt (2012). Human security and the politics of security. Why human security matters. (pp. 107-126) edited by Dennis Altman, Joseph A. Camilleri, Robyn Eckersley and Gerhard Hoffstaedter. Crows Nest, NSW, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
Holland, Jack and McDonald, Matt (2010). Australian identity, interventionism and the War on Terror. International Terrorism Post-9/11. (pp. 184-206) edited by Asaf Siniver. London & New York: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203852002
McDonald, Matt (2010). The environment and global security. Global security and international political economy. (pp. 283-305) edited by Pinar Bilgin and Paul D. Williams. Oxford, U.K.: UNESCO; EOLSS Publishers.
Jackson, Richard and McDonald, Matt (2009). Constructivism, US foreign policy and the 'war on terror'. New directions in US foreign policy. (pp. 18-31) edited by Inderjeet Parmar, Linda B. Miller and Mark Ledwidge. London: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203878811
McDonald, Matt (2009). Emancipation and critical terrorism studies. Critical Terrorism Studies: A New Research Agenda. (pp. 109-123) edited by Richard Jackson, Marie Breen Smyth and Jeroen Gunning. London: Routledge.
McDonald, Matt (2008). Global security after September 11 2001. Security: Sociology and Social Worlds. (pp. 47-80) edited by Simon Carter, Tim Jordan and Sophie Watson. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
McDonald, Matt (2008). Constructivism. Security studies: An introduction. (pp. 59-72) edited by Paul D. Williams. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, U.K.: Routledge.
Burke, Anthony and McDonald, Matt (2007). Introduction: Asia-Pacific security legacies and futures. Critical Security in the Asia-Pacific. (pp. 1-9) edited by Anthony Burke and Matt McDonald. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press.
McDonald, Matt (2007). US Hegemony, the War on Terror and the Asia-Pacific. Critical security in the Asia Pacific. (pp. 198-211) edited by Anthony Burke and Matt McDonald. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Journal Articles

McDonald, Matt (2024). Accepting responsibility? Institutions and the security implications of climate change. Security Dialogue. doi: 10.1177/09670106231212149
McDonald, Matt (2023). Security: A Philosophical Investigation. By David Welch. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2022. 294p. $84.99 cloth, $29.99 paper. Perspectives on Politics, 21 (4), 1525-1526. doi: 10.1017/s1537592723002086
McDonald, Matt (2023). Immovable objects? Impediments to a UN Security Council resolution on climate change. International Affairs, 99 (4), 1635-1651. doi: 10.1093/ia/iiad064
McDonald, Matt (2023). In defence of ecological security. New Perspectives, 31 (1), 39-44. doi: 10.1177/2336825x221143620
McDonald, Matt (2023). Geoengineering, climate change and ecological security. Environmental Politics, 32 (4), 565-585. doi: 10.1080/09644016.2022.2113606
Kirk, Jessica and McDonald, Matt (2021). The politics of exceptionalism: securitization and COVID-19. Global Studies Quarterly, 1 (3), 1-12. doi: 10.1093/isagsq/ksab024
McDonald, Matt (2021). From the Ashes: Ecological Ethics and the Australian Bushfires. Journal of Posthumanism, 1 (1), 93-96. doi: 10.33182/jp.v1i1.1417
McDonald, Matt (2020). After the fires? Climate change and security in Australia. Australian Journal of Political Science, 56 (1), 1-18. doi: 10.1080/10361146.2020.1776680
McDonald, Matt (2020). The Morality of Security: A Theory of Just Securitization. Ethics & International Affairs, 34 (2), 255-257. doi: 10.1017/S0892679420000325
McDonald, Matt (2019). Teaching Australian foreign policy: vocational training or critical thinking?. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 73 (6), 1-6. doi: 10.1080/10357718.2019.1683513
McDonald, Matt (2018). Climate change and security: towards ecological security?. International Theory, 10 (02), 153-180. doi: 10.1017/s1752971918000039
McDonald, Matt (2017). Critical security in the Asia-Pacific: an introduction. Critical Studies on Security, 5 (3), 237-252. doi: 10.1080/21624887.2017.1420125
McDonald, Matt (2017). Remembering Gallipoli: Anzac, the Great War and Australian memory politics. Australian Journal of Politics and History, 63 (3), 406-418. doi: 10.1111/ajph.12372
McDonald, Matt and Wilson, Lee (2017). Trouble in paradise: contesting security in Bali. Security Dialogue, 48 (3), 241-258. doi: 10.1177/0967010617692925
Huda, Mirza Sadaqat and McDonald, Matt (2016). Regional cooperation on energy in South Asia: unraveling the political challenges in implementing transnational pipelines and electricity grids. Energy Policy, 98, 73-83. doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2016.07.046
McDonald, Matt (2016). Bourdieu, environmental NGOs and Australian climate politics. Environmental Politics, 25 (6), 1058-1078. doi: 10.1080/09644016.2016.1196968
Bonnell, Andrew G. and McDonald, Matt (2016). Editors' note. Australian Journal of Politics and History, 62 (2), 335-335. doi: 10.1111/ajph.12259
Burke, Anthony, Lee-Koo, Katrina and McDonald, Matt (2016). An ethics of global security. Journal of Global Security Studies, 1 (1), 64-79. doi: 10.1093/jogss/ogv004
McDonald, Matt (2015). Australian foreign policy under the Abbott government: foreign policy as domestic politics?. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 69 (6), 651-669. doi: 10.1080/10357718.2015.1056514
McDonald, Matt (2015). Climate Security and Economic Security: The Limits to Climate Change action in Australia?. International Politics, 52 (4), 484-501. doi: 10.1057/ip.2015.5
McDonald, Matt (2014). Book review of Four degrees of global warming: Australia in a hot world. Australian Journal of Politics and History, 60 (3), 477-478.
McDonald, Matt (2013). Issues in Australian foreign policy: January to June 2013. Australian Journal of Politics and History, 59 (4), 605-617. doi: 10.1111/ajph.12036
Beeson, Mark and McDonald, Matt (2013). The politics of climate change in Australia. Australian Journal of Politics and History, 59 (3), 331-348. doi: 10.1111/ajph.12019
McDonald, Matt (2013). The future of Australian climate politics. Australian Journal of Politics and History, 59 (3), 449-456. doi: 10.1111/ajph.12026
Browning, Christopher S. and McDonald, Matt (2013). The future of critical security studies: ethics and the politics of security. European Journal of International Relations, 19 (2), 235-255. doi: 10.1177/1354066111419538
McDonald, Matt (2013). Foreign and defence policy on Australia's political agenda, 1962-2012. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 72 (2), 171-184. doi: 10.1111/1467-8500.12021
McDonald, Matt (2013). Discourses of climate security. Political Geography, 33 (1), 42-51. doi: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2013.01.002
Dunne, Tim and McDonald, Matt (2013). The politics of liberal internationalism. International Politics, 50 (1), 1-17. doi: 10.1057/ip.2012.25
McDonald, Matt (2013). Foreign policy internationalism and political possibility. International Politics, 50 (1), 97-117. doi: 10.1057/ip.2012.30
McDonald, Matt (2012). The failed securitization of climate change in Australia. Australian Journal of Political Science, 47 (4), 579-592. doi: 10.1080/10361146.2012.731487
McDonald, Matt (2011). Deliberation and resecuritization: Australia, asylum-seekers and the normative limits of the Copenhagen School. Australian Journal of Political Science, 46 (2), 281-295. doi: 10.1080/10361146.2011.568471
McDonald, Matt (2010). "Lest We Forget": The politics of memory and Australian military intervention. International Political Sociology, 4 (3), 287-302. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-5687.2010.00106.x
McDonald, Matt and Merefield, Matt (2010). How was Howard's war possible? Winning the war of position over Iraq. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 64 (2), 186-204. doi: 10.1080/10357710903544346
McDonald, Matt (2009). Security and environmental change. International Affairs, 85 (6), 1262-1263.
Jackson, Richard and McDonald, Matt (2009). Constructivism, US foreign policy and the 'war on terror'. New Directions in Us Foreign Policy, 18-31.
McDonald, Matt (2009). Emancipation and critical terrorism studies. Critical Terrorism Studies, 109-123.
McDonald, Matt (2008). Securitization and the construction of security. European Journal of International Relations, 14 (4), 563-587. doi: 10.1177/1354066108097553
McDonald, Matt (2007). Emancipation and critical terrorism studies. European Political Science, 6 (3), 252-259. doi: 10.1057/palgrave.eps.2210142
Gelber, Katharine and McDonald, Matt (2006). Ethics and exclusion: Representations of sovereignty in Australia's approach to asylum-seekers. Review of International Studies, 32 (2), 269-289. doi: 10.1017/S0260210506007029
McDonald, Matt (2005). Constructing insecurity: Australian security discourse and policy post-2001. International Relations Journal, 19 (3), 297-320. doi: 10.1177/0047117805055408
McDonald, Matt (2005). Fair weather friend? Ethics and Australia's approach to global climate change. Australian Journal of Politics and History, 51 (2), 216-234. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8497.2005.00371.x
McDonald, Matt (2005). Be alarmed? Australia's anti-terrorism kit and the politics of security. Global Change, Peace and Security, 17 (2), 171-189. doi: 10.1080/14781150500091755
McDonald, Matt (2005). Perspectives on Australian foreign policy, 2004. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 59 (2), 153-168. doi: 10.1080/10357710500134467
Bellamy, A. J. and McDonald, M. (2005). Debate - The insecurities of an English school gatekeeper: A reply to Makinda. Australian Journal of Political Science, 40 (3, September), 411-417. doi: 10.1080/10361140500203969
Bellamy, A. J. and McDonald, M. (2005). Because I said so: A response to Makinda. Australian Journal of Political Science, 40 (4), 555-558. doi: 10.1080/10361140500302407
McDonald, M (2004). In fear of security: Australia's invasion anxiety. Australian Journal of Political Science, 39 (3), 661-661. doi: 10.1080/103614042000295237
McDonald, M (2004). International environmental cooperation: Politics and diplomacy in Pacific Asia. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 58 (3), 389-391.
Bellamy, Alex J. and McDonald, Matt (2004). Securing international society: Towards an English School discourse of security. Australian Journal of Political Science, 39 (2), 307-330. doi: 10.1080/1036114042000238537
McDonald, Matt (2003). Environment and security: Global eco-politics and Brazilian deforestation. Contemporary Security Policy, 24 (2), 69-94. doi: 10.1080/13523260312331271919
McDonald, Matt (2002). Human security and the construction of security. Global Society: Journal of Interdisciplinary International Relations, 16 (3), 277-295. doi: 10.1080/09537320220148076
McDonald, Matt J. (2002). Fear, security and the politics of representing asylum seekers. M/C Journal: A Journal of Media and Culture, 5 (1)
Bellamy, A. J. and McDonald, M. (2002). 'The utility of human security': Which humans? What security? A reply to Thomas & Tow. Security Dialogue, 33 (3), 373-377. doi: 10.1177/0967010602033003010
McDonald, Matt (2001). Book Review: Cynthia Weber: International Relations Theory. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 30 (3), 832-833.
McDonald, Matt (2001). Making waves? The environment and security as a contracting discourse. International Journal of Human Rights, 5 (3), 111-126.

Thesis

McDonald, Matt (2004). Power and identity : the environment and the construction of security. PhD Thesis, School of Political Science and International Studies, The University of Queensland.

Areas of research

Governance & Public Policy
International Relations