The Duck of Minerva

Cai Wilkinson

Cai Wilkinson is Senior Lecturer at Deakin University in Melbourne Australia. Cai’s research focuses on societal security in the post-Soviet space, with a particular focus on LGBTQ rights in Kyrgyzstan and Russia.

Recent Posts

Securitization Forum: Back on Tour With the Copenhagen School – Better to Travel Than Arrive

by Cai Wilkinson | 30 September, 2015 | ,

A full twelve posts in to the forum, the question posed by Jarrod and Eric about why securitization theory’s travels in the US have been so pedestrian compared to its extensive tour schedule in Europe and elsewhere has already been explored from a considerable number of angles, with various diagnoses made. Details differ, but the overall consensus appears to be that securitization theory (at least in its original theoretical form) is in all respects too alien to the disciplinary ecosystem of American IR to be able to gain any substantive foothold amongst the US discipline’s dominant...

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Continuing the “all-male” theme at EISA

by Cai Wilkinson | 13 September, 2015 | ,

It was with a distinct sinking feeling yesterday that I learnt that conference rooms for the EISA's upcoming 9th Pan-European Conference on International Relations have been renamed after eminent theorists of European origin and that there is not a single woman amongst those selected to be honored. A close reading of the conference program brought together the following list of names, which was posted on the Congrats, you have an all-male panel Tumblr: To add insult to injury, some conference rooms have retained their usual Italian names, so it's not even as though there wasn't space to...

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Living IR: Lessons from Manuela Picq’s arrest and detention

by Cai Wilkinson | 17 August, 2015 | , ,

Over the weekend news came from Ecuador that Dr Manuela Picq of Universidad San Francisco de Quito, had been beaten and arrested while participating in a legal protest over indigenous rights as a journalist. Initially hospitalised as a result of injuries sustained at the hands of police, she was  informed that her visa had been cancelled  due to her having engaged in “political activity” and that she would be deported from Ecuador, where she has lived and worked for the past eight years. She is currently being held in a hotel that is used to detain illegal immigrants until her case is heard...

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Affective or Effective? War Child’s Gamefication of Conflict Experience

by Cai Wilkinson | 13 August, 2015 | ,

Gamification is "is the application of game elements and digital game design techniques to non-game problems, such as business and social impact challenges", to borrow the course description from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania's Gamification MOOC. The approach has been used to try and improve employee productivity, facilitate risk prevention education (and indeed many other forms of education) , resolve social conflict, and, perhaps less surprisingly, in marketing. And just in case you thought there were any contexts in which gamification couldn't be used, militaries...

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LGBT Rights: The Perils of Becoming Mainstream

by Cai Wilkinson | 22 July, 2015 |

To begin with a confession, I have spent far too long contemplating what to write about as my first post, due in no small part to sharing fellow Guest Duck Tom's nerves about joining such formidable paddling of regular Ducks. However, Wendy's post on human rights having gone mainstream and no longer being revolutionary has given me exactly the push I needed to get started. Specifically, I want to explore Wendy's argument in relation to claims for LGBT rights. My aim is not to counter Wendy's argument, which I find persuasive, but rather to use it as a starting point for thinking through the...

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