Paul MacDonald
Professor of Political Science
Links
My primary area of research and teaching in political science is international relations, with a focus on American foreign policy.
My research focuses on the how powerful states create and sustain relations of dominance over others in international politics. My first book Networks of Domination: The Social Foundations of Peripheral Conquest in International Politics was published by Oxford University Press. My second book Twilight of the Titans: Great Power Decline and Retrenchment, coauthored with Joseph M. Parent, was published by Cornell University Press. I have also published articles in International Security, International Organization, Review of International Studies, Security Studies, Foreign Affairs, Daedalus, International Affairs, Political Science Quarterly, and the American Political Science Review.
I teach survey courses on “World Politics” and “American Foreign Policy,” as well as seminars on topics such as “Empires and Imperialism,” and “Small Wars and Insurgencies.”
Before coming to Wellesley, I taught for three years in the department of political science at Williams College. I have also held research positions at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government, the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University, and the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University.
When not traveling abroad, I enjoy backpacking in California, snowshoeing in the Berkshires, and kicking the soccer ball with my two kids, Ark and Stella.
Education
- B.A., University of California-Berkeley
- M.A., Columbia University in the City of New York
- Ph.D., Columbia University in the City of New York