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Daniel R. McCarthy

@drmccarthy.bsky.social
602 followers 361 following 470 posts

Associate Prof in IR at The University of Melbourne Interests: STS, IR, Tech, Utopia, American National Security and Foreign Policy Series Editor, Technology, International Relations and World Order, Routledge

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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Utopianists - someone has gone and decided to embrace the dreaded utopian blueprint! I appreciate the boldness The blurb: 'it takes the question of how socialism might actually work seriously enough to venture an answer.' @versobooks.bsky.social www.versobooks.com/products/284...
versobooks.com
The Blueprint
Capitalism isn’t working. But is there a plausible alternative? The Blueprint lays one out: a system where workers control every lever of production, and competitive markets and state planning coexist...
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Just once I want to see a paper state that it will uncritically analyze something: 'In this paper, I undertake an uncritical analysis of dominant policy discourses.....'
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I don't need >$100 000 in research funding. I do need more small grants to be available. I feel I'm not alone amongst HASS scholars.
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Interesting article on foresight analysis in IOs 👇 that will be of relevance to folks interested in future studies in IR, scenarios, utopia, etc www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Unknowing the future: Speculative foresight in international institutions and the unexpected ‘origins’ of expertise | Review of International Studies | Cambridge Core
Unknowing the future: Speculative foresight in international institutions and the unexpected ‘origins’ of expertise
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Duncan Bell @duncanbell.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
ARTICLE: Duncan Bell, "John Stuart Mill on Federation, Civilization and Empire," History of Political Thought (2024) go.shr.lc/3EFfrLf
go.shr.lc
John Stuart Mill on Federation, Civilization and Empire: Ingenta Connect
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Things ex-pat Canadians learn: the Canadian Internet economy is very dated. Want to buy a gift card from a restaurant? Can't do it from overseas. No idea why. Have to call direct.
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
He had to experience deportation to understand it was terrifying. In sum: a sociopath with zero empathy. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Deported Milo Yiannopoulos says he is ‘ashamed’ of support for Trump
British far-right pundit breaks silence on ICE arrest and deportation and says he was ‘really, really terrified’
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
📣OCIS 2027 Call for Papers is now open - check it out 👇 Jointly organized by ANU and USP, it is taking place in Suva, Fiji, July 7-9 2027 For our American IR friends: Fiji in July > Atlanta in March 😉 ocis.org.au/2027-call-fo...
ocis.org.au
2027 OCIS Call for Papers – 2027 OCIS
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Missed this one when it first came out: @janeijking.com on Jules Verne, fiction/literature, and technocratic worldmaking in RIS. Very good, very interesting piece 👇 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Machine conquest: Jules Verne’s technocratic worldmaking | Review of International Studies | Cambridge Core
Machine conquest: Jules Verne’s technocratic worldmaking - Volume 51 Issue 2
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Stephanie Carvin @stephaniecarvin.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Wake up, babe. The Prime Minister just dropped “hydronym”.
The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means “the lake is beautiful, the lake is big”.

The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.

We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms. 

Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always.
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Lake America. *Sigh*
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Peace Medie @peacemedie.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
My article, African Feminisms in International Relations, is out in International Theory. In it, I discuss how engagement with African feminisms can enhance the study of IR.
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Utopianists - SI on Utopia in Authoritarian Times 👇 in Utopian Studies will be of interest given, you know, everything....... muse.jhu.edu/issue/57160/...
muse.jhu.edu
Project MUSE -- Verification required!
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Trump's American exceptionalism shines through in this weird idea that people living in other places want to be American. The crusading liberal universalism has gone in favour of chauvinist civilizational identity but the 'city on a hill' idea remains. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
‘No more!!!’: Trump lashes out after US-Canada talks devolve into trade war
PM Mark Carney says ‘we got attacked’ as tariffs come into force on items from hockey sticks to tongue depressors
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Utopianists - story in @news.abc.net.au on libertarian utopia Prospera 👇will be of interest. An ex. of an enclave utopia w/ implications for how we think about utopia and spatial relations in IR. @mattfluck.bsky.social engages this idea in forthcoming work www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08...
abc.net.au
Inside the libertarian city on a Caribbean island backed by Silicon Valley
It might sound like something out of a  Reddit thread — a Caribbean island where libertarians, biohackers and crypto bros are building an experimental city. In Honduras, it's real.
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Check it out - @versobooks.bsky.social has launched a new 'Southern Questions' series 👇 edited by Adom Getachew and Thomas Meaney that will likely be of wide interest www.versobooks.com/en-gb/collec...
versobooks.com
Verso's Southern Questions
Decolonisation was the major historical process of the twentieth century. Its unfinished projects continue to shape our present. The defeat, withdrawal, and reconfiguration of Western colonial power i...
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Utopianists in IR - recent article on technology, diplomactic peace in Africa, and utopia, drawing on Mathias Thaler's work on peace as a 'minor utopia' will be of interest 👇 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
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Eric Brandom @ebrandom.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
this is a lovely project!
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Working on second edition of Technology and World Politics 👇at the moment. Nice to engage across the whole breadth of work on technology in IR again 2nd edition out with @routledgebooks.bsky.social next year www.routledge.com/Technology-a...
routledge.com
Technology and World Politics: An Introduction
This edited volume provides a convenient entry point to the cutting-edge field of the international politics of technology, in an interesting and informative manner. Technology and World Politics intr...
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Shanon Brincat's new volume 👇 on dialectic in international relations will be of interest to IR theory scholars - he conducts dialogue with authors using the approach from various perspectives (Hegelian, Marxist, Critical Realist, Buddhist, etc). #irtheory academic.oup.com/book/63069
academic.oup.com
Dialectical Dialogues in Global International Relations
Abstract. This is a unique volume of transcultural dialogue in which Shannon Brincat brings together a diverse group of scholars who use a dialectical appr
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
I realize this is Bluesky, and thus not the audience, but I'm sharing this in case anyone has a crazy uncle who believes Trump and RFK Jr's nonsense and needs some light reading assistance....... publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/vaccine... www.theguardian.com/society/2010...
theguardian.com
Lancet retracts 'utterly false' MMR paper
After medical council ruling last week that MMR doctor Andrew Wakefield was dishonest, journal finally quashes paper
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ABC News Australia @news.abc.net.au · 06/08/2026
Antisemitism royal commission told misogyny a major driver of extremism in young men
abc.net.au
Misogyny a major driver of extremism in young men, royal commission told
Misogyny and its amplification through the "manosphere" may be a key driver of ideologically motivated extremism in young men and boys in Australia, the antisemitism royal commission has heard.
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Utopianists in IR - if you have not had the chance to read the book below 👇 it is well worth a look Koenig-Archibugi takes on core issues at the heart of arguments around utopia in IR, including issues of method, scale, and feasibility as it relates to a world state academic.oup.com/book/57306
academic.oup.com
The Universal Republic: A Realistic Utopia?
Abstract. Can humanity achieve collective self-government in a highly interdependent world? Catastrophic climate change, biodiversity loss, pandemics, war
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Utopianists - check out this interesting article on Soviet temporalities, the home, and revolutionary time 👇 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Time at Home: The October Revolution and Soviet Temporalities
The October Revolution ushered in a radical, future-orientated political agenda. Almost immediately, through the press, advice literature, activism and avant-garde planning, a lively discourse on dom...
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George Lawson @georgelawson.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
This is going to be great! Please do join us in Fiji next July
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
📣OCIS 2027 Conference has just been announced 📣 The Oceanic Conference on International Studies will take place in Suva, Fiji, jointly organized by ANU and the University of the South Pacific Great conference - check out 👇 @georgelawson.bsky.social @anubellschool.bsky.social ocis.org.au
ocis.org.au
2027 OCIS
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
On AI, Trust and American Civil Military Relations 👇 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
A “journey to trust” for AI: Civil–military relations and epistemic authority in American socio-technical imaginaries of artificial intelligence
The adoption of Emerging and Disruptive Technologies (EDT) by the militaries of liberal democratic states has the potential to alter civil–military relations. In Samuel Huntington’s influential dis...
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Edward Goldring @edwardgoldring.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
“Teaching Autocracy and Autocratic Politics” is now out. To my knowledge, this is the first book that considers how instructors can teach about autocracy in a university setting. www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/tea...
e-elgar.com
Teaching Autocracy and Autocratic Politics
‘This is a terrific and thoughtful book about a question our field has overlooked: how to teach the politics of authoritarianism well. Filled with creative ideas and practical tools, it will be invalu...
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Not going to lie - I'd watch this.
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Interesting article 👇 on Adorno and catalytic vs. concrete traditions of utopianism This is part of a larger set of reflections on this divide beginning to populate work on utopia muse.jhu.edu/pub/2/articl...
muse.jhu.edu
Project MUSE -- Verification required!
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Adrian Daub @adriandaub.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
My book WHAT TECH CALLS GOVERNING will be released on August 18! It is now available for pre-order! bookshop.org/p/books/what...
The awesome cover of What Tech Calls Governing, which you should pre-order before it comes out on August 18!
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Presidential address that could have been an email.
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Is he going to fall asleep? He sounds sleepy.
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Reading on utopia from Education Studies should be of wider interest to utopianists - makes the case for concrete utopias that take on aspects of 'blueprint' utopias (🤯) Cuts against grain of catalytic tradition in helpful ways www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
tandfonline.com
Where’s the vision? The concept of utopia in contemporary educational theory
This paper explores the way in which the concept of utopia is employed within contemporary educational theory. Confronted with the relentless marketisation and managerialisation of education, ther...
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Clayton Chin @unimelb.edu.au writing in Pursuit 👇 about Hanson's exclusionary and divisive view of monoculturalism in the context of other parties failure to develop effective multicultural policies over the past two decades pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/pau...
pursuit.unimelb.edu.au
Pauline Hanson is thriving in Australia's 'belonging vacuum'
One Nation's vision of a monocultural Australia is unworkable and exclusionary, but the harder truth is that no major party has offered a shared national story that all Australians can identify with, ...
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Folks in IR - we need to stop saying that 'drawing on STS, we will analyze X technology' Science and Technology Studies is a field. It's a bit like saying 'Drawing on International Relations I will study war' STS - big field, lots of different and often incompatible perspectives in it.
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The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History @jich.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
New book review published advance access. Christopher Hill reviews "Contaminated Country: Nuclear colonialism and Aboriginal resistance in Australia" by Jessica Urwin (University of Washington Press, 2025): doi.org/10.1080/0308... @uwapress.uw.edu
doi.org
Contaminated Country: nuclear colonialism and Aboriginal resistance in Australia
Published in The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History (Ahead of Print, 2026)
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Late to the party of Piketty's 2100 utopian vision Interesting to see concrete set of proposals - while utopian theory has moved towards the education of desire reports this like and the work of Rutger Bremen show place for defined visions #utopianIR globaljusticeproject.wid.world
globaljusticeproject.wid.world
Global Justice Project
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
It also throws in an old canard about incentives required for innovation. That property rights incentives (a) often forestall innovation and (b) basic research innovation occurs in collaborative environments not mentioned - always the 'myth of the lone inventor' in the background (Lemley 2012)
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Economist really Economisting on this one 👇 I'm not sure, at the moment, whether those folks who are advocating for things like more affordable housing or decent wages should be labelled really 'dangerous', but the esteemed publication disagrees. www.economist.com/leaders/2026...
economist.com
How to fight back against Gen-Z socialism
The me-first doctrine is a threat to prosperity
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
On tech oligarchies and future imaginaries of outer space 👇 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Dictators of the future: the tech oligarchy in outer space
Published in Science as Culture (Ahead of Print, 2026)
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Utopianists: Kim Hutchings on feminist pacifism and social theory 👇 journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
journals.sagepub.com
Forever failing: Feminist practices of peace in war/violence - Kimberly Hutchings, 2025
This paper explores different ways in which the nexus between peace, utopia and failure can be understood, drawing on examples of feminist peace activism. The p...
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Article on SciFi and Tech oligarchy 👇 will be of interest across disciplines, part of a wider forum on the 'Californian Ideology' www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Total surveillance as a civilizational stage? Science-fiction, religion and the tech oligarchy
Published in Science as Culture (Ahead of Print, 2026)
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Annual message for the kids: Please don't use AI to write your assignments. Save it for fun cat-fighting shark vids. Thank you.
static.klipy.com
Buff Cat vs. Shark: Epic Ocean Battle
ALT: Buff Cat vs. Shark: Epic Ocean Battle
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
static.klipy.com
Idiocracy: President Camacho with a Gun
ALT: Idiocracy: President Camacho with a Gun
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
UFC arena under construction on White House lawn to mark Trump’s 80th birthday
The venue is expected to host a mixed martial arts fight on 14 June to also mark the US’s 250th anniversary
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Tony Blair, Zombie PM. The ultimate horror movie.
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
One man utopian IR bluesky operation keeps going: Currently reading on politics of nuclear weapons and utopia. Lots of really good work out there often under-cited and missed by 'mainstream' IR. Check out 2 e.g.s 👇 journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... and www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Daniel R. McCarthy @drmccarthy.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Bit of criticism of Bruno Latour and his place in studies of infrastructure in IR offered below - reupping this piece www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Infrastructure and the integral state: Internal Relations, processes of state formation, and Gramscian state theory | Review of International Studies | Cambridge Core
Infrastructure and the integral state: Internal Relations, processes of state formation, and Gramscian state theory - Volume 50 Issue 4
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