The Duck of Minerva

Megan MacKenzie

Megan MacKenzie is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney in Australia. Her main research interests include feminist international relations, gender and the military, the combat exclusion for women, the aftermaths of war and post-conflict resolution, and transitional justice. Her book Beyond the Band of Brothers: the US Military and the Myth that Women Can't Fight comes out with Cambridge University Press in July 2015. https://www.cambridge.org/ee/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/international-relations-and-international-organisations/beyond-band-brothers-us-military-and-myth-women-cant-fight?format=PB

Recent Posts

Not Surprised is Not Good Enough: what soldier atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan can teach us about Ferguson

by Megan MacKenzie | 3 December, 2014 |

          By some strange twist of fate I happened to watch the Kill Team, a documentary about the infamous US platoon that intentionally murdered innocent Afghan men while on tour. When, in 2010 the military charged five members of the platoon, the case drew international attention due to the graphic nature of the killings, evidence that the men mutilated the bodies and kept parts as trophies, and indications that the killings were part of a wider trend of 'faking' combat situations in order for soldiers to 'get a kill.' While the premeditated killing of Afghan...

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Locals Know Best: Community Action Is Game Changer for Containing Ebola In Sierra Leone

by Megan MacKenzie | 4 November, 2014 |

This is a guest post by Dehunge Shiaka, Researcher and gender expert in Freetown Sierra Leone This is the second post in a series by Shiaka, which is meant to provide an insider's perspective on living in Sierra Leone during the Ebola crisis. The first one can be accessed here. To access our linkages posts on Ebola click here or here. Hassan is a 35-year old youth volunteer working with the Sierra Leone Red Cross. In the thick of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Kenema, he led one of the burial teams in that town. Each day he as he came home to meet his family after work, Hassan...

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My 5 Secret 'Weapons' for Finishing a Book

by Megan MacKenzie | 31 October, 2014 |

There is all kinds of advice out there on how to write and finish a book. We are frequently advised to 'Write everyday', 'write early in the morning,' 'workshop and present your work,' among other things. Here is a great overview of 10 steps to writing a book and another fantastic post called "'I'm writing a book no one will read' and other reasons the PhD can get you down.'" It seems common knowledge that writers need time, space, and mental energy to complete any piece of work. But no one talks about the other types of daily tools that can be useful in getting words on a page. I'm no...

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Experiencing the Ebola Crisis: a perspective from inside Sierra Leone

by Megan MacKenzie | 13 October, 2014 |

This is a guest post by Dehunge Shiaka, Researcher and gender expert in Freetown Sierra Leone There has been increased international attention to the Ebola Viral Disease (EVD) and its spread in West Africa. However, for those living in the region, the reports, meetings, and fears associated with the virus seem to have come too late. The international community should send aid, supplies, and experts, but it should also listen to the experiences, advice, and wisdom of locals. Those living amidst the epidemic have a first-hand view of why the disease has spreading so quickly, and how it can be...

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Bad Advice on Making Academic Babies: opting in and out of heteronormative panic

by Megan MacKenzie | 15 September, 2014 |

What I remember most about my post-grad Gender and Politics seminar were the extensive discussions we had about having babies. It was 2004, and debates about babies vs careers, and whether women should 'opt out' to raise families, were heated and divisive. Women were told in the 1980s and 1990s that the highest feminist aspiration was to wear oversize, terrible suits and work alongside men- as equals (or at least work alongside men, while accepting less pay and dealing with harassment). This was followed by the movement to denounce the double-day; the New York Times and Time Magazine led the...

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ISIS and Biological Weapons: Black Flag, But Not the Black Death

by Megan MacKenzie | 3 September, 2014 |

This is a guest post by Frank L. Smith III, lecturer at the University of Sydney and author of the new book, American Biodefense: How Dangerous Ideas About Biological Weapons Shape National Security. The 2003 Iraq War aimed to stop rogue states from using weapons of mass destruction or giving these weapons to terrorists. Now we face ISIS, a terrorist organization that also claims to be a state. But what about WMD? Last week, Foreign Policy reported the discovery of an ISIS laptop that contained a jihadi fatwa on how “it is permissible to use weapons of mass destruction,” and, far more...

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If Gaza Isn’t a Genocide, What Is?: discourse as resistance

by Megan MacKenzie | 27 July, 2014 |

At the moment many of us are watching the news with bated breath. New sites,  facebook and twitter feeds are filling with images of civilian deaths and the leveling of Gaza. There is growing sentiment that the 'targeted' operations in Gaza by the IDF have been willfully indiscriminate- with example upon example of civilian safe havens being directly targeted (4 UN schools in 4 days, 46 schools in total, 56 Mosques and 7 hospitals). The UN has called for an investigation of war crimes by Israel, and there is a growing international public movement to protest the killings- in the face of...

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What the Public Heard/Saw in the Headlines for the ‘Global Summit on Ending Sexual Violence’

by Megan MacKenzie | 19 June, 2014 |

If you haven't read Pablo K's piece on Angelina Jolie, celebrity, and the Global Summit on Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict, you should. There has been some broader discussion about the pros (see 'Hollywood can actually help solve complex global problems') and cons of celebrity 'endorsement' (the foreign secretary was 'starstruck') of humanitarian issues- the Angelina Jolie 'effect', if you will. One thing that is certain, the headlines were certainly all about Angelina. "Angelina Jolie hosts/says/opens/kicks off…" were the most prominent headlines, with the content, issues, debates of the...

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Why Mass Shootings Make Gun Control Less Likely to Pass Congress

by Megan MacKenzie | 16 June, 2014 |

**This is a guest post by Dr. Christopher Neff, Lecturer in Public Policy at University of Sydney.** This past week President Obama marked one year since legislative efforts at gun control failed in the Congress. He lamented at the normalization of school shootings in the United States, noting, “my biggest frustration is that this society has not been willing to take some basic steps to keep guns out of the hands of people who can do unbelievable damage.” What the President and his aides fail to realize is that mass shootings today make gun control less like to pass, not more likely.  Why?...

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The Unwritten Rules of AMERICAN IR? (or, things American IR scholars don’t always know about ‘doing’ IR ‘in the rest of the world’)

by Megan MacKenzie | 8 June, 2014 |

Laura Sjoberg recently wrote a post listing "The Unwritten Rules of IR." While it is an interesting review of some of the power relations, maneuvering, and indeed game-playing that goes on in the field, it also captured a particular American (maybe even just a personal) experience of being an IR scholar. Of course this makes sense, since Sjoberg is an American doing IR in America...but it felt a little bit more like 'Mean Girls- the IR Sequel'- like when Regina George (yes, I remember the main character/villain's name outlines the 'rules' of the table....maybe the problem is the table, not...

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