https://jackmcdonald.org/ Recent content on Jack McDonald Hugo -- gohugo.io en-US Copyright © 2013-2024, Jack McDonald. Tue, 21 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/12/integrated-review-guide/ Tue, 21 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/12/integrated-review-guide/ This is a guide for students, currently complete up to the Strategic Framework Section. Introduction This is intended as a “zero-knowledge” guide to reading the UK’s 2021 Integrated Review policy document: “Global Britain in a competitive age: The Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy” link. It is aimed at first year undergraduates who may have little or no knowledge about how the UK’s political system works, and therefore aims to provide the reader with a lot of background knowledge that more knowledgeable readers might not require/need. https://jackmcdonald.org/teaching/war-warfare-21/ Tue, 21 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/teaching/war-warfare-21/ War and Warfare 2021-22 Hi, this is a page to stick together all the readings for the additional sessions on “How War Works”. Sessions 1 and 2 took place in December. Session 3 will take place at 6pm on the first week of term 2, sessions 4-7 will take place as a block on the wednesday afternoon of the second week of term. Readings HMG. The Integrated Review (114 pages): link HMG. https://jackmcdonald.org/teaching/dw21/ Fri, 24 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/teaching/dw21/ Dirty Wars 2021-22 Like it says on the tin, this module is about “dirty wars” in theory and practice. The idea for the course is to explore what can be learned about war by thinking through and examining a subset of conflicts that have been labelled “dirty wars” (or equivalent) by theorists and/or participants. In formal terms, we the course covers the relationship between categories of political violence, normative theory, and strategy. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/06/what-if-military-ai-sucks/ Wed, 23 Jun 2021 11:29:53 +0100 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/06/what-if-military-ai-sucks/ Military applications of artificial intelligence, we are told, are poised to transform military power. They might make the oceans transparent to sensor systems, threatening at-sea nuclear deterrent systems like the UK’s Trident. They might enable autonomous aircraft that could outfight human crewed planes. They could transform intelligence processing in war, enable all sorts of complex weapons that would make things like tanks and aircraft carriers yesterday’s news. The sky, it appears, is the limit. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/06/contemporary-conflict-lebowski/ Tue, 08 Jun 2021 13:33:03 +0100 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/06/contemporary-conflict-lebowski/ Say what you want about the retreat from Basra, Dude, at least it’s a definable event The penny dropped that this year I get to teach students who were born after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The last such milestone was “born after 9/11” and in my head, the next one is “born after Bin Laden was killed”. This got me thinking: what might students actually consider to be a contemporary conflict? https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/05/li-apr-21/ Tue, 11 May 2021 16:57:41 +0100 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/05/li-apr-21/ I am attempting to keep track of all the articles I come across that look interesting, that I’ll probably never read, but might read more of them if I keep track of them. Secrecy, evidence, and fear: exploring the construction of intelligence power with Actor-Network Theory (ANT) By T. W. van de Kerke & C. W. Hijzen in Intelligence & National Security Keywords: Critical Intelligence Studies, Intelligence Theory, Actor-Network Theory, Iraq War https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/03/li-mar-21/ Wed, 24 Mar 2021 21:36:43 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/03/li-mar-21/ I am attempting to keep track of all the articles I come across that look interesting, that I’ll probably never read, but might read more of them if I keep track of them. “As Old as War Itself”? Historicizing the Universal Mercenary By Malte Riemann in Journal of Global Security Studies Keywords: history, mercenaries, genealogy, Foucault IR scholarship has increasingly begun to scrutinize the ahistorical and ahistoricist assumptions pervading the discipline. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/03/li-feb-21/ Wed, 24 Mar 2021 21:36:36 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/03/li-feb-21/ I am attempting to keep track of all the articles I come across that look interesting, that I’ll probably never read, but might read more of them if I keep track of them. Exporting Influence: U.S. Military Training as Soft Power By Carla Martinez Machain in Journal of Conflict Resolution Keywords: military power, foreign policy, foreign aid, international cooperation The US engages in extensive training and education of foreign militaries, often through exchange programs carried out at the different military services’ staff and war colleges. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/02/private-holmes-problem/ Sun, 21 Feb 2021 14:46:51 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/02/private-holmes-problem/ The Times is reporting today that the Royal Marines have purchased a new drone that can “distinguish between an enemy combatant and a friendly soldier”. This is probably journalistic license, but it sparked a conversation with Christian Braun about AI and distinction that naturally led to the issue of human reliance upon AI-generated knowledge for lethal decisions. Christian’s issue, which forms the jumping off point for this post, is: My main concern is that the human assessment may at one point almost exclusively rely on AI-based information. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/01/li-jan-21/ Wed, 06 Jan 2021 17:26:46 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2021/01/li-jan-21/ I am attempting to keep track of all the articles I come across that look interesting, that I’ll probably never read, but might read more of them if I keep track of them. Eyes on target: ‘Stay-behind’ forces during the Cold War By Tamir Sinai in War in History Keywords: stay-behind, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Special Air Service, Northern Army Group, intelligence, Cold War, GLADIO This article examines the concept of ‘stay-behind’ as a war-fighting tactic used by North Atlantic Treaty Organization to maximize its defensive efforts against a possible Soviet onslaught during the Cold War. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/12/li-nov-dec-20/ Wed, 16 Dec 2020 21:51:21 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/12/li-nov-dec-20/ I am attempting to keep track of all the articles I come across that look interesting, that I’ll probably never read, but might read more of them if I keep track of them. Settle and conquer: the ultimate counterinsurgency success By Matthew J. Flynn in Small Wars & Insurgencies American westward expansion so thoroughly undermined Native people and cultures that it has earned a place in history as the ultimate counterinsurgency success. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/10/looks-interesting-sepoct-20/ Sat, 31 Oct 2020 14:23:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/10/looks-interesting-sepoct-20/ I am attempting to keep track of all the articles I come across that look interesting, that I’ll probably never read, but might read more of them if I keep track of them. The future war studies community and the Chinese revolution in military affairs By Kai Liao in International Affairs The article argues, first, that there exists a community of PLA experts that has been a major force advocating a forward-looking approach to military studies and defence planning since the early 1980s; second, that this group played a role in shifting China’s defence paradigm from imminent war to peacetime army-building in the mid-1980s; and third, that their efforts in exploring future war scenarios and creating a peacetime defence planning framework led the PLA to focus on future local wars, the new technological revolution and the informatization of the military. https://jackmcdonald.org/teaching/study-skills-20/ Fri, 16 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/teaching/study-skills-20/ Part-Time Study Skills This is a short series of videos about study skills for postgraduate study. There are a series of exercises here that can be used for individual reflection, or as a basis for group discussion with a group of friends. The links below are all the links featured in the videos, as well as an additional basic concepts guide for War Studies, if you need some locate some introductory material to support your studies. https://jackmcdonald.org/teaching/dw20/ Fri, 25 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/teaching/dw20/ Dirty Wars 2020-21 Like it says on the tin, this module is about “dirty wars” in theory and practice. The idea for the course is to explore what can be learned about war by thinking through and examining a subset of conflicts that have been labelled “dirty wars” (or equivalent) by theorists and/or participants. In formal terms, we the course covers the relationship between categories of political violence, normative theory, and strategy. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/08/looks-interesting-aug-20/ Mon, 10 Aug 2020 17:04:03 +0100 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/08/looks-interesting-aug-20/ I am attempting to keep track of all the articles I come across that look interesting, that I’ll probably never read, but might read more of them if I keep track of them. Virtual Territorial Integrity: The Next International Norm By Michael J. Mazarr in Survival A contribution to work on digital sovereignty and interesting in light of the American turn towards nation-state intranets instead of the internet. The rising potential for dangerous virtual warfare points to the need for leading countries to develop an agreement parallel to the existing territorial-integrity norm – a virtual territorial-integrity principle that can set limits on non-traditional aggression toward other societies. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/07/looks-interesting-july-20/ Fri, 10 Jul 2020 08:51:43 +0100 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/07/looks-interesting-july-20/ I am attempting to keep track of all the articles I come across that look interesting, that I’ll probably never read, but might read more of them if I keep track of them. The reemergence of the disappeared, the role of remains and the forensic gaze By Cath Collins in Memory Studies Discussion of consequences of reappearance of the bodies of the disappeared in Latin America, Northern Ireland, and Spain https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/06/looks-interesting-june-20/ Tue, 02 Jun 2020 15:32:08 +0100 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/06/looks-interesting-june-20/ I am attempting to keep track of all the articles I come across that look interesting, that I’ll probably never read, but might read more of them if I keep track of them. Accountability, denial and the future-proofing of British torture By Ruth Blakeley and Sam Raphael in International Affairs the British government’s response to torturous practices in Northern Ireland, at least on the face of it, seemed to suggest that lessons on the inefficacy and counterproductivity of torture from Britain’s post-colonial period had been learned. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/05/covid-tracking-usage/ Wed, 06 May 2020 10:37:53 +0100 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/05/covid-tracking-usage/ Is 60% Even Possible? What if they made a privacy-protecting Covid-19 tracking app and nobody used it? Or at least not enough people used it to make a difference? NHSX is now testing a Covid-19 Contact Tracing App on the Isle of Wight, with a view to rolling it out across the UK. This app does not appear to satisfy privacy and digital rights groups, notably because it does not feature a de-centralised system for storing data. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/05/looks-interesting-may-20/ Sat, 02 May 2020 21:51:10 +0100 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/05/looks-interesting-may-20/ I am attempting to keep track of all the articles I come across that look interesting, that I’ll probably never read, but might read more of them if I keep track of them. The absence of great power responsibility in global environmental politics By Steven Bernstein in European Journal of International Relations IR theory across traditions has been too accepting of a presumed link between great power responsibilities and special rights. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/04/bluetooth-whitepapers/ Mon, 20 Apr 2020 19:27:17 +0100 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/04/bluetooth-whitepapers/ Covid-19 Tracking White Papers This is a (very incomplete) list, current as of 27/04/20, of links to articles/white papers related to proposed technological systems for Covid-19 contact tracing. If you have any suggestions, please email them to me - jack AT jackmcdonald.org Proposals Apple/Google bluetooth proposal BlueTrace Protocol Full site https://bluetrace.io/ DP-3T White Paper Current: April 12 April 3 Overview of Data Protection and Security Current: April 3 Simplified 3 Page Brief Current: April 3 Papers Quantifying SARS-CoV-2 transmission suggests epidemic control with digital contact tracing - Science, Luca Ferretti et al, 31 March 2020 Trackers Tracking the Global Response to COVID-19 - Privacy International Articles What price privacy? https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/04/snakes-and-dragons/ Fri, 17 Apr 2020 17:55:16 +0100 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/04/snakes-and-dragons/ Some thoughts on David Kilcullen’s new book, The Dragon and the Snakes. I see two problems with the book: first, some dodgy use of evolution metaphors, second, it misses the point about the fact that Russia and China are adapting their warfighting capabilities (and concepts of war) in the context of coaliations of states opposed to them. “Change over time” is a less sexy term than “evolution”. It also lacks the veneer of science that evolution implies. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/04/looks-interesting-marapr-20/ Wed, 01 Apr 2020 15:25:01 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/04/looks-interesting-marapr-20/ I am attempting to keep track of all the articles I come across that look interesting, that I’ll probably never read, but might read more of them if I keep track of them. Due to a pandemic, I skipped March, so here’s everything from March and April Amoral realism or just war morality? Disentangling different conceptions of necessity By Masakazu Matsumoto in European Journal of International Relations we need to distinguish between at least two conceptions of necessity—causal and telic—to understand the different forms of realism. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/02/looks-interesting-feb-20/ Wed, 05 Feb 2020 15:25:01 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/02/looks-interesting-feb-20/ I am attempting to keep track of all the articles I come across that look interesting, that I’ll probably never read, but might read more of them if I keep track of them. This is the results for January-February 2020. The impact of Artificial Intelligence on hybrid warfare By Guilong Yan in Small Wars & Insurgencies At the top of the reading pile in part because the author is “an associate professor and Director of Foreign Military Studies Centre at the Information Engineering University, Luoyang Campus of the PLA Strategic Support Force” https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/01/geofence-warrants/ Fri, 17 Jan 2020 17:25:26 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/01/geofence-warrants/ Something I missed last year: the emeregence of discussion about “geofence warrants.” As reported by The New York Times: The police told the suspect, Jorge Molina, they had data tracking his phone to the site where a man was shot nine months earlier. They had made the discovery after obtaining a search warrant that required Google to provide information on all devices it recorded near the killing, potentially capturing the whereabouts of anyone in the area. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/01/looks-interesting/ Thu, 02 Jan 2020 22:41:01 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2020/01/looks-interesting/ I am attempting to keep track of all the articles I come across that look interesting, that I’ll probably never read, but might read more of them if I keep track of them. This is the results for January 2020. Exercising War: How Tactical and Operational Modelling Shape and Reify Military Practice Don’t know if this is over-theorising the obvious, but Öberg’s prior Security Dialogue article was good. This article analyzes how contemporary military training and exercises shape and reify specific modalities of war… As military exercises integrate the tactical and operational dimensions into a model for warfare, they serve as blueprints for today’s battles at the same time as they perpetuate a martial viewpoint of the world. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2019/12/ai-ethics-mit/ Sun, 22 Dec 2019 13:27:15 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2019/12/ai-ethics-mit/ Tech Ethics Fakeouts, MIT Media Lab Edition An interesting, if Intercept-y, piece from The Intercept on AI ethics and the MIT Media Lab. The piece hinges upon Rodrigo Ochigame’s (the author) relations with MIT’s Media Lab, and its former head Joi Ito. To put it bluntly, the Ochigame came away from the experience of working in Ito’s research group unimpressed. In particular, Ochigame is particualrly critical of the way in which technology lobby groups have leveraged academics into ethics-washing the AI industry’s society-wide experiments in mass data capture and deployments of predictive technologies in sensitive areas, like criminal sentencing. https://jackmcdonald.org/teaching/dw19/ Tue, 10 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/teaching/dw19/ Dirty Wars 2019-20 Like it says on the tin, this module is about “dirty wars” in theory and practice. The idea for the course is to explore what can be learned about war by thinking through and examining a subset of conflicts that have been labelled “dirty wars” (or equivalent) by theorists and/or participants. In formal terms, we the course covers the relationship between categories of political violence, normative theory, and strategy. https://jackmcdonald.org/teaching/wti19/ Tue, 10 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/teaching/wti19/ War, Technology & Innovation 2019-20 Why does military technology matter? What, if anything, separates military technologies from other types of technology? This course builds out from these kind of abstract questions to study the relationship between war, technology, and the changing character of warfare. A key feature of this course is that it avoids specfic focus upon individual military technologies and innovations, and requires students to consider the connections between war, warfare, and a variety of technologies beyond those with specific military applications. https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/ma-advice/ Mon, 18 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/ma-advice/ This is condensed general advice that I give to my MA students that I am writing out here for reference purposes. If you are reading this and are one of my students: You are an adult and therefore free to disregard all of this if you choose. The chances are that if you are studying for an MA degree then passing that degree will be your number one priority for the next year. https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/british-academic-essay/ Mon, 18 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/british-academic-essay/ This is intended for my students as a reference point for, and deeper explanation of, advice that I usually give in class. This isn’t an explanation of the King’s College London marking system, but gives my perspective on what an essay is, what makes for a good essay, and why academics like myself use them as a form of assessment. The essence of a good essay is that it answers the bloody question. https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/summer-reading-on-tactics/ Thu, 31 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/summer-reading-on-tactics/ B.A. Friedman’s On Tactics: A Theory of Victory in Battle is an excellent book on the tactical level of war, written for a professional (military) and general audience, and provides pretty much a one-stop primer on combat and battle for undergraduate or graduate students in security studies or strategic studies. Reading it as an academic, it’s clear that the book’s focus is pulled in two directions. On one hand, Friedman seeks to define a general theory of tactics (and the relationship between tactics and strategy), on the other, the functional role of the book is explained in the subtitle, A Theory of Victory in Battle. https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/erik-prince-bad-plan/ Wed, 30 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/erik-prince-bad-plan/ The New York Times has given Erik Prince, of Blackwater fame/infamy, the OpEd space to make a case for privatising America’s war in Afghanistan. Prince’s idea, presented as a third option between leaving and staying in Afghanistan long term, is to effectively privatise the war in Afghanistan: Leave 2000 US special ops and support personnel in country, and back that up with 6000 contractors, working alongside Afghan security forces at the sharp end. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2017/08/on-killer-robots-ieds/ Fri, 25 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2017/08/on-killer-robots-ieds/ Lethal autonomous weapon systems are back in the news because a lot of tech company founders have penned a letter calling upon states to “find a way to protect us all from these dangers” of lethal autonomous weapons systems. I find it amusing that this letter is signed by Elon Musk and SpaceX, since that company is now integrating military satellite deployment into its business model. That aside, the letter also contains this chunk of text: https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/jamestown-as-genocide/ Thu, 24 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/jamestown-as-genocide/ A short post, to highlight a very interesting and thoughtful critique by Aoife O’Donoghue and Henry Jones of a lead article in the Journal of the History of International Law on the Jamestown massacre. To cut a long story short (which Aoife and Henry do a good job of explaining), this is an article that seeks to demonstrate that the Jamestown massacre (of 1622) fulfils the criteria of genocide under the UN Genocide Convention (1948) framework. https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/single-points-of-failure/ Sun, 20 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/single-points-of-failure/ If you count state censorship as an attack upon academic freedom, then large academic publishers are a single point of failure for academic freedom. The current row regarding Cambridge University Press’ decision to allow the wholesale censorship of the leading academic journal on Chinese affairs, The China Quarterly is a feature, not a bug, of the current system of publishing academic research. Academics decry this censorship for good reason: James Millward calls it “ a craven, shameful and destructive concession to the PRC’s growing censorship regime. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2017/07/the-wrong-strategy/ Fri, 21 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2017/07/the-wrong-strategy/ If you are a student of mine and I have directed you here, this is an explanation of why the grammatical construction known as the passive voice is a bad thing to use in academic work and policy analysis. That is not to say that the passive voice is wrong in all places, but on the whole it is best to avoid it, or at least be very aware when you are using it in your work. https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/thought-leaders-attention-merchants/ Mon, 19 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/thought-leaders-attention-merchants/ Mirrored from Medium.com TED talks are a bit like Marmite. To some, the idea of being able to hold an audience of millions for 18 minutes is a worthy career goal. After all, what’s the point of all that thinking and hard work if it doesn’t reach anyone? To others, TED talks are to be avoided. Not because audiences don’t matter, mind, but because the very idea of one-big-idea-that-will-change-the-world is a warning sign on par with “Danger of Death” notices dotted around power plants. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2017/06/sakoda-schelling/ Sat, 10 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2017/06/sakoda-schelling/ There are many rules, both written and unwritten, to modern academic work. Perhaps the best (if depressing) recent explanation of unwritten rules is Daniel Nexon’s blunt warning about the necessity of self-promotion for academic work. Everyone is pretty much caught in the REF/accessibility trap (to wit: “Publish in a format the general public can’t afford, or perish”). As an early career researcher, not paying attention to these structural issues is career suicide. https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/a-scary-thought-experiment/ Sat, 20 May 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/a-scary-thought-experiment/ In light of American forces shooting down a Syrian jet in Syria, and a second Iranian-made drone in Syria, America’s situation appears (in the usual social media hubbub) to be getting sketchier, to say the least. This might not be helped by the White House giving the Pentagon much more say in the day-to-day running of the Coalition operations in Syria, the White House being chronically understaffed and looking less attractive as a career option with every passing day. https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/winchester-plan-that-worked/ Wed, 26 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/winchester-plan-that-worked/ This isn’t a “buy my book” post but I do have a book out this week, that includes a chapter on the Reyaad Khan strike, and I’m sure my publisher would be a bit miffed if I didn’t take the chance to point this out. It’s available from Amazon. Post mirrored at Medium.com It’s been just over a year and a half since David Cameron, then Prime Minister, announced the existence of the 2015 strike, conducted by the UK’s armed forces, that killed Reyaad Khan. https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/clausewitz-and-the-clinch/ Fri, 21 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/clausewitz-and-the-clinch/ This is a series of posts that I’m building into an online course on the use of metaphors to describe war and warfare. In short: what can we learn by picking apart Clausewitz’s metaphor of war as a series of duels? Mirrored at Medium.com here Clausewitz’s definition of war as “an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will” is probably to most cited phrase in books about war (That’s the Howard/Paret translation, JJ Graham’s is “an act of violence to compel our opponent to fulfil our will”). https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/trump-supremacy/ Wed, 09 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/deprecated/trump-supremacy/ What will Donald Trump do? https://jackmcdonald.org/2016/summer-reading-burglars-guide/ Sun, 21 Aug 2016 22:39:59 +0100 https://jackmcdonald.org/2016/summer-reading-burglars-guide/ Summer Reading: A Burglar’s Guide… “Think different” - the late 90s Apple slogan - could also serve as a rule of thumb for soldiers trying to stay one step ahead of their opponents (and in the process, stay alive). Geoff Manaugh’s book A Burglar’s Guide to the City focuses upon different sort of people who tend to “think different” - burglars. Manaugh writes from the perspective of an architect, examining the many-varied ways in which burglars interact with the built environment in order to enter buildings, and remove things from them (usually for some form of personal gain). https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2016/07/future-research/ Tue, 05 Jul 2016 08:03:05 +0100 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2016/07/future-research/ # Lethal Legibility Note: this is a sketch of some work that I’ll be writing on over the next couple of years. The core of this work is dissatisfaction with the revisionist account of the ethics of war, how this in turn informs my perception of debates regarding the development and use of lethal autonomous systems, and what I think this holds for the future of warfare. The TL;DR - expert systems will mean that any object legible to machines as a military target are dead, whereas those that can’t (humans, for example) will continue to require human decision-making, and thus less vulnerable. https://jackmcdonald.org/2015/bombing-the-devil-in-the-pale-moonlight/ Mon, 16 Nov 2015 08:47:54 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/2015/bombing-the-devil-in-the-pale-moonlight/ Bombing the Devil in the Pale Moonlight If not inevitable, last night’s French air strikes on Islamic State, in the wake of Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris, were an understandable response by the French government. This is ‘understandable’ in the sense that the worst terrorist attacks in Europe since the 2004 Madrid bombings were bound to stir the French government into action. The French President, François Hollande, called the murder of over a hundred civilians an ‘Act of War’, the French police have conducted over 150 raids, and French aeroplanes have hit Raqqa, the default capital of the Islamic State. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2015/11/counter-singularity-warfare/ Wed, 11 Nov 2015 17:57:33 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2015/11/counter-singularity-warfare/ Counter Singularity Warfare Nick Bostrom’s latest book, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies, is a tour-de-force analysis of the consequences of research into artificial intelligence. One element of Bostrom’s book that I find enviable is that he manages to pack so many ideas into a single book. Different conjectures and ways of thinking about AI pretty much fly off the page. Although much of what Bostrom writes about could be found elsewhere, I can’t think of a book that addresses such a wide range of issues associated with AI. https://jackmcdonald.org/2015/11/popcorn-pedagogy/ Fri, 06 Nov 2015 08:48:05 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/2015/11/popcorn-pedagogy/ Was the destruction of Alderaan justified? Sonny Bunch says yes, Daniel Drezner says no and Stephanie Carvin wonders “Why academics want to talk about make-believe when there are SO MANY more interesting real-life examples is beyond me.” More important, I think, is Carvin’s follow up: “This is not to be anti-sci-fi or TV, but I think that over-use pedagogically dements our theories and our lesson plans.” As someone who is utterly bored of academic articles on Buffy, Zombies, Vampires, Terminators and so on, I’m inclined to agree. https://jackmcdonald.org/2015/11/sitting-pretty/ Wed, 04 Nov 2015 18:14:13 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/2015/11/sitting-pretty/ Hey, welcome back. This post is part-inspired by The Scholar’s Stage’s look at the wane of blogging on strategy and national security. I’ve basically been too busy to write a blog, and tip-toeing around a lot, because I’m meant to be a professional. The thing is, some of the most creative things I’ve ever written have been when making off-the-cuff comments about events connected for my research. Like today: The UK Government’s publication of its draft, 299 page, Investigatory Powers bill. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2014/10/2014-10-31-naming-privacy-the-yanomami/ Fri, 31 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2014/10/2014-10-31-naming-privacy-the-yanomami/ Naming Privacy & the Yanomami Are our names ‘dead personal information’? In The Fourth Revolution Luciano Floridi argued that people are constituted by their information, and that privacy breaches are therefore a form of aggression against the person. It is an intriguing notion, and one that makes an end run around the flaws in the ‘information as personal property’ model of privacy. I think Floridi is correct to point out that in this sense information ’expresses a sense of constitutive belonging, not of external ownership, a sense in which your body, your feelings, and your information are part of you but are not your (legal) possessions. https://jackmcdonald.org/about/ Wed, 09 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/about/ About This is my personal website. Please send any communications to the email below Long Bio Dr Jack McDonald is a Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. His is currently co-leads the Reconceptualising research strand in the Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War. Formerly he was the Director of the Centre for Science and Security Studies, a global leader in nuclear security, non-proliferation, and security challenges related to emerging technology. https://jackmcdonald.org/bjj/ Wed, 09 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/bjj/ Projects and posts related to this https://jackmcdonald.org/projects/ Wed, 09 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/projects/ Projects A placeholder for assorted projects and digital resources Teaching Resources Assorted teaching resources developed over time Part Time Study Skills | Study Skills training | link Dirty Wars | Course Resources and Handbooks | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 War, Technology and Innovation | Course Resources and Handbooks | 2019 https://jackmcdonald.org/research/ Wed, 09 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/research/ Publications Books McDonald, Jack. What is War For? Bristol University Press, 2023. link McDonald, Jack. Enemies Known and Unknown: Targeted Killings in America’s Transnational War. Oxford University Press/Hurst & Co., 2017. link McDonald, Jack. Ethics, Law and Justifying Targeted Killings: The Obama Administration at War. Routledge, 2016. link Journal Articles: McDonald, Jack. “Remote Warfare and the Legitimacy of Military Capabilities.” Defence Studies 21, no. 4 (2021): 528-544. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14702436.2021.1902315 McDonald, Jack. https://jackmcdonald.org/teaching/ Wed, 09 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/teaching/ Teaching Current Courses (2025) On sabbatical for 2025/6 Previous Teaching Postgraduate Courses Convened Dirty Wars War, Technology, and Innovation The Science & Security of Nuclear and Biological Weapons CBRN Terrorism Current Issues in Science & Security Government, Governance & War Technology & Security Undergraduate Courses Convened The Global Experience of War Philosophies of War Guerrillas in the Mist Programme Leadership MA in Science & Security (King’s College London) https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2013/12/2013-12-10-amazon-atwood-and-the-nsa/ Tue, 10 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2013/12/2013-12-10-amazon-atwood-and-the-nsa/ Amazon, Atwood and the NSA I don’t know why Amazon put Oryx and Crake into the little section marked “You might also like” after I added a copy of Woman on the Edge of Time to my digital basket. The last book I had bought by Margaret Atwood was A Handmaid’s Tale, but I bought that in person, at Foyles in Charing Cross, in part because I had liked the thought of re-reading it and the particular paperback edition had red-edged pages. https://jackmcdonald.org/2013/08/5000-feet-is-the-best/ Mon, 26 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/2013/08/5000-feet-is-the-best/ 5000 Feet is the Best I will admit that I walked into the Imperial War Museum’s (free) display of Omer Fast’s film with low expectations. Most artistic takes on ‘drones’ have, for the most part, struck me as badly researched, ill-thought out or plain lazy reactions to a ‘hot’ topic in politics. This reflects my personal preferences (I prefer art that happens to challenge my beliefs, rather than re-enforce them, and bad ‘drone art’ does neither) and what I might call professional competence (I happen to know a bit about them and the reasons people use them). https://jackmcdonald.org/2013/08/the-act-of-killing/ Mon, 19 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/2013/08/the-act-of-killing/ The Act of Killing is a documentary about some ambling old men who also killed thousands of Communists in their youth. Documentaries about mass killing aren’t new, nor for that matter, is it truly possible to shock with archival footage. Anyone born in the UK likely encounters footage of Auschwitz at some point before their 18th birthday, and as such, become somewhat vaccinated to imagery of mass killing. At a certain point, many documentaries cross the line between the attempt to convey the horror of atrocity, and the attempt to shock the viewer with genocide-porn. https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2013/07/2013-07-22-kill-boxes-and-rain-rooms/ Mon, 22 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/blog/2013/07/2013-07-22-kill-boxes-and-rain-rooms/ Kill Boxes and Rain Rooms Why discuss automated targeting and art installations? In part, the genesis of this article (and some others that I have planned) is that I’m something of a war-junkie who can’t switch off thinking about war when stepping into art galleries. I do my best to engage, but sometimes an artist’s work makes me think about my ‘day job’ a little differently. At the moment, I’m doing a fair bit of research about autonomous weapons and targeting. https://jackmcdonald.org/2012/03/notes-on-a-part-time-doctorate/ Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/2012/03/notes-on-a-part-time-doctorate/ Dan Rezner has been writing some good articles on PhD study, which made me think about mine (coming to the end right now). There isn’t much out there on part-time PhDs, but when it comes down to it, I’ve always been a part-time student, considering the amount of paid employment I’ve done while studying. This article is therefore written from the perspective of someone without much money trying to complete a PhD. https://jackmcdonald.org/2012/03/for-future-reference-re-kony/ Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000 https://jackmcdonald.org/2012/03/for-future-reference-re-kony/ I wrote a post on the Kony 2012 video here, it went viral and got me mentioned on al-Jazeera, quoted in the National Post (online here) and The Age. I wrote another post on the subject here, got interviewed on Toronto talk radio and Foxnews.com and did a podcast here. It’s now a second past my fifteen minutes of fame so I’m going back to writing bits and bobs that no-one reads.