Ken McDonagh
@kenmcdonagh.bsky.social
Associate Prof in IR, DCU, research EU security & defence, occasional runner, dad of triplets, mo thuairim fèin
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
A blast from my past - the Medieval Soldier database takes nearly 300,000 military service records from 1369-1453 and makes them available as a searchable database.
An invaluable resource for understanding medieval warfare, society and the English medieval state. Learn more in the link. 🗃️
An invaluable resource for understanding medieval warfare, society and the English medieval state. Learn more in the link. 🗃️
We built a database of 290,000 English medieval soldiers – here’s what it reveals
We created the database in order to challenge assumptions about the lack of professionalism of everyday soldiers.
theconversation.com
December 2, 2025 at 10:17 AM
A blast from my past - the Medieval Soldier database takes nearly 300,000 military service records from 1369-1453 and makes them available as a searchable database.
An invaluable resource for understanding medieval warfare, society and the English medieval state. Learn more in the link. 🗃️
An invaluable resource for understanding medieval warfare, society and the English medieval state. Learn more in the link. 🗃️
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
We are facing a second Zeitenwende. Our most important ally, the US, has prioritized financial gains for a few over Europe's security and Ukraine's survival, forcing us to rethink how we organize and invest in our defence.
ecfr.eu/podcasts/epi...
ecfr.eu/podcasts/epi...
ECFR at 18: Has European foreign policy come of age?
Mark Leonard brings together Carl Bildt, Lykke Friis, and Norbert Röttgen to to unpack how Europe has changed since 2007, when ECFR was founded, and what challenges lie ahead…
ecfr.eu
December 2, 2025 at 8:14 AM
We are facing a second Zeitenwende. Our most important ally, the US, has prioritized financial gains for a few over Europe's security and Ukraine's survival, forcing us to rethink how we organize and invest in our defence.
ecfr.eu/podcasts/epi...
ecfr.eu/podcasts/epi...
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
Your annual reminder that the most revealing difference between Irish and Scottish Gaelic is definitely in the words for December: Mí na Nollag (Month of Christmas) in Ireland, and An Dubhlachd (the Blackness) in Scotland. So once again may I wish you all a lovely Blackness.
December 1, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
A thread about being wrong:
5 years ago, we wrote a paper about how how newly enfranchised 16-year-olds vote in Austria. But we were wrong.
This year, @elisabethgraf.bsky.social, @schnizzl.bsky.social, Sylvia Kritzinger and I are setting the record straight: authors.elsevier.com/c/1juT5xRaZk...
5 years ago, we wrote a paper about how how newly enfranchised 16-year-olds vote in Austria. But we were wrong.
This year, @elisabethgraf.bsky.social, @schnizzl.bsky.social, Sylvia Kritzinger and I are setting the record straight: authors.elsevier.com/c/1juT5xRaZk...
November 21, 2024 at 6:01 PM
A thread about being wrong:
5 years ago, we wrote a paper about how how newly enfranchised 16-year-olds vote in Austria. But we were wrong.
This year, @elisabethgraf.bsky.social, @schnizzl.bsky.social, Sylvia Kritzinger and I are setting the record straight: authors.elsevier.com/c/1juT5xRaZk...
5 years ago, we wrote a paper about how how newly enfranchised 16-year-olds vote in Austria. But we were wrong.
This year, @elisabethgraf.bsky.social, @schnizzl.bsky.social, Sylvia Kritzinger and I are setting the record straight: authors.elsevier.com/c/1juT5xRaZk...
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
December 1, 2025 at 11:09 AM
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
Brilliant piece on what our children will and won't thank us for in the era of AI. Naomi is SO GOOD on all of this: naomialderman.substack.com/p/preparing-...
preparing for the working world in the age of AI
or: seven things to tell your kids when they ask what they should study now, or what the point of studying is
naomialderman.substack.com
December 1, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Brilliant piece on what our children will and won't thank us for in the era of AI. Naomi is SO GOOD on all of this: naomialderman.substack.com/p/preparing-...
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
My tuppence worth, if it's worth tuppence any more, is that actually it is a bad idea to re/dename Herzog Park. There are very few signs of Ireland's Jewish history. As someone who has been involved for years in trying to get a blue plaque up to the Waterford community–something that's on pause–
November 30, 2025 at 3:28 PM
My tuppence worth, if it's worth tuppence any more, is that actually it is a bad idea to re/dename Herzog Park. There are very few signs of Ireland's Jewish history. As someone who has been involved for years in trying to get a blue plaque up to the Waterford community–something that's on pause–
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
Mothers who lost sons at the Little Bighorn & on USS Maine; Widows of Antietam & Gettysburg; veterans who lost limbs and narratives of loss and murder. Some of the 720+ stories in the "Yankee Pensioners in Ireland 1845-1905 Interactive Map": storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4e3d...
Yankee Pensioners in Ireland 1845-1905: An Interactive Map
An interactive map with biographical info and addresses of 700+ women, men and children who received U.S. pensions in 19th century Ireland.
storymaps.arcgis.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Mothers who lost sons at the Little Bighorn & on USS Maine; Widows of Antietam & Gettysburg; veterans who lost limbs and narratives of loss and murder. Some of the 720+ stories in the "Yankee Pensioners in Ireland 1845-1905 Interactive Map": storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4e3d...
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
When I heard of “Clash of Civilizations” as an undergrad it immediately struck me as absurd 19th century racial determinism. It does not do the IR field any favors to take it seriously.
Amid the liberal internationalist optimism of the late 1990s, Samuel Huntington foresaw a world marked by continued conflict.
Samuel Huntington Is Getting His Revenge
The idea of a global “clash of civilizations” wasn’t wrong—it was just premature.
foreignpolicy.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:11 AM
When I heard of “Clash of Civilizations” as an undergrad it immediately struck me as absurd 19th century racial determinism. It does not do the IR field any favors to take it seriously.
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
The death of browsing is part of the reason art is the way it is now. Our opinions are largely fed to us by algorithms. Spending a spare 15 minutes wandering around a bookstore or comic shop or video rental place was how you found stuff you wouldn't ordinarily pick up and thereby expanded your taste
Bookselling is like the most "people go to the store and buy what looks cool to them without a particular agenda" type business left, and your purchases have a huge influence on what is ordered, what is displayed, and what is recommended.
November 29, 2025 at 6:44 PM
The death of browsing is part of the reason art is the way it is now. Our opinions are largely fed to us by algorithms. Spending a spare 15 minutes wandering around a bookstore or comic shop or video rental place was how you found stuff you wouldn't ordinarily pick up and thereby expanded your taste
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
Delighted to be speaking at this charity concert at Wembley in March.
Tickets on sale 10am Tuesday!
Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️⚧️
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
Tickets on sale 10am Tuesday!
Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️⚧️
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
Sugababes, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Wolf Alice and more to play all-star charity concert for trans rights
Organised by Olly Alexander and the Mighty Hoopla festival to ‘fight back against the politics of fear and exclusion’, Trans Mission will take place at Wembley Arena in March
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Delighted to be speaking at this charity concert at Wembley in March.
Tickets on sale 10am Tuesday!
Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️⚧️
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
Tickets on sale 10am Tuesday!
Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️⚧️
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
'Small changes to the tone of posts fed to users of X can increase feelings of political polarisation as much in a week as would have historically taken at least three years, research has found.' 1/3
Small changes to ‘for you’ feed on X can rapidly increase political polarisation
Study finds that a week of political content can bring about a shift in views that previously would have taken three years
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:32 AM
'Small changes to the tone of posts fed to users of X can increase feelings of political polarisation as much in a week as would have historically taken at least three years, research has found.' 1/3
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
You can't actually cap migration into Ireland without:
1. Dismantling the Common Travel Area
2. Leaving the EU
3. Placing a hard border between the Republic and the North
This "population growth" argument the self-declared sensible people have come up with is in reality really extreme
1. Dismantling the Common Travel Area
2. Leaving the EU
3. Placing a hard border between the Republic and the North
This "population growth" argument the self-declared sensible people have come up with is in reality really extreme
November 27, 2025 at 10:34 AM
You can't actually cap migration into Ireland without:
1. Dismantling the Common Travel Area
2. Leaving the EU
3. Placing a hard border between the Republic and the North
This "population growth" argument the self-declared sensible people have come up with is in reality really extreme
1. Dismantling the Common Travel Area
2. Leaving the EU
3. Placing a hard border between the Republic and the North
This "population growth" argument the self-declared sensible people have come up with is in reality really extreme
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
When it opens with "I am Irish-American and planning to move to Ireland" you brace yourself for A Comment And A Half.
Then you add "the Quora factor" - you are not expecting sensible chat here.
... and somehow, he still manages to shock us.
Then you add "the Quora factor" - you are not expecting sensible chat here.
... and somehow, he still manages to shock us.
November 27, 2025 at 5:07 PM
When it opens with "I am Irish-American and planning to move to Ireland" you brace yourself for A Comment And A Half.
Then you add "the Quora factor" - you are not expecting sensible chat here.
... and somehow, he still manages to shock us.
Then you add "the Quora factor" - you are not expecting sensible chat here.
... and somehow, he still manages to shock us.
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
You know what we won't need once handwriting recognition software has done its thing? Archivists, curators, conservators, catalogers, codicologists, or paleographers. We won't need archives either. We won't need diplomatics, editorial theory, book or media history, or material culture studies 🗃️🧵
November 26, 2025 at 10:12 PM
You know what we won't need once handwriting recognition software has done its thing? Archivists, curators, conservators, catalogers, codicologists, or paleographers. We won't need archives either. We won't need diplomatics, editorial theory, book or media history, or material culture studies 🗃️🧵
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
Politicians in Counties Clare and Limerick have some explaining to do. It was announced today that Cork is getting massive rail investment through the National Development Plan while the Midwest is getting nothing at all. Did our politicians even lobby for it?
www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster...
www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster...
Revised National Development Plan delivers €1bn for Cork rail expansion and new stations
More than €1bn will accelerate Cork’s commuter rail expansion as the updated NDP shifts transport spending towards a new 1:1 ratio
www.irishexaminer.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Politicians in Counties Clare and Limerick have some explaining to do. It was announced today that Cork is getting massive rail investment through the National Development Plan while the Midwest is getting nothing at all. Did our politicians even lobby for it?
www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster...
www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster...
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
This time last year the final paper of my PhD was published. Because I am spending the holidays on the #academicjobmarket I thought I’d share!
#academicbluesky #anthropology #sociology #conservation #politicaleconomy #highered #geopolitics #phdcareers #ecology
www.tandfonline.com/doi/metrics/...
#academicbluesky #anthropology #sociology #conservation #politicaleconomy #highered #geopolitics #phdcareers #ecology
www.tandfonline.com/doi/metrics/...
The Geopolitics of Problematic Information: Epistemic Territorialization and Wildlife Conservation Volunteering in Namibia: Annals of the American Association of Geographers: Vol 115, No 2
Browse all journals
www.tandfonline.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:16 PM
This time last year the final paper of my PhD was published. Because I am spending the holidays on the #academicjobmarket I thought I’d share!
#academicbluesky #anthropology #sociology #conservation #politicaleconomy #highered #geopolitics #phdcareers #ecology
www.tandfonline.com/doi/metrics/...
#academicbluesky #anthropology #sociology #conservation #politicaleconomy #highered #geopolitics #phdcareers #ecology
www.tandfonline.com/doi/metrics/...
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
Knock on wood - but the Baltic Sea hasn't had any cable/pipeline incidents lately.
More about it: www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-res...
(This is the latest report from the @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social Maritime Threats initiative. No paywall.)
More about it: www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-res...
(This is the latest report from the @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social Maritime Threats initiative. No paywall.)
November 26, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Knock on wood - but the Baltic Sea hasn't had any cable/pipeline incidents lately.
More about it: www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-res...
(This is the latest report from the @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social Maritime Threats initiative. No paywall.)
More about it: www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-res...
(This is the latest report from the @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social Maritime Threats initiative. No paywall.)
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
absolutely massive news from the EU's top court! while it doesn't force every EU country to perform same-sex marriages, it *does* require them to recognise same-sex marriages from other countries the same way they recognise other foreign marriages
it's a big step!
www.reuters.com/world/europe...
it's a big step!
www.reuters.com/world/europe...
November 25, 2025 at 10:43 AM
absolutely massive news from the EU's top court! while it doesn't force every EU country to perform same-sex marriages, it *does* require them to recognise same-sex marriages from other countries the same way they recognise other foreign marriages
it's a big step!
www.reuters.com/world/europe...
it's a big step!
www.reuters.com/world/europe...
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
REMINDER of this event on Irish and Indian Constitutions at DCU's St Pats campus at 4:30 this evening
Delighted to be joining @seanrainford.bsky.social @aoifemod.bsky.social @suryaroy.bsky.social @donalcoffey.bsky.social @dculibrary.bsky.social
All welcome
Delighted to be joining @seanrainford.bsky.social @aoifemod.bsky.social @suryaroy.bsky.social @donalcoffey.bsky.social @dculibrary.bsky.social
All welcome
Join us at DCU's St Pats campus for an evening seminar comparing the Irish and Indian constitutions, hosted by the Ireland India Institute, next Wed 26 Nov.
Some leading constitutional lawyers and historians will explore shared influences and challenges between 🇮🇳 and 🇮🇪. All welcome
Some leading constitutional lawyers and historians will explore shared influences and challenges between 🇮🇳 and 🇮🇪. All welcome
November 26, 2025 at 8:00 AM
REMINDER of this event on Irish and Indian Constitutions at DCU's St Pats campus at 4:30 this evening
Delighted to be joining @seanrainford.bsky.social @aoifemod.bsky.social @suryaroy.bsky.social @donalcoffey.bsky.social @dculibrary.bsky.social
All welcome
Delighted to be joining @seanrainford.bsky.social @aoifemod.bsky.social @suryaroy.bsky.social @donalcoffey.bsky.social @dculibrary.bsky.social
All welcome
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
The #28point “peace plan” is structurally doomed. #Ukraine cannot cede unoccupied Donetsk territory or accept military limits; removing these demands in turn would make it unacceptable to Russia.
New #IAICommentary by @nonamikhelidze.bsky.social ➡️ www.iai.it/en/node/21109
More 🧵👇 1/3
New #IAICommentary by @nonamikhelidze.bsky.social ➡️ www.iai.it/en/node/21109
More 🧵👇 1/3
November 26, 2025 at 8:00 AM
The #28point “peace plan” is structurally doomed. #Ukraine cannot cede unoccupied Donetsk territory or accept military limits; removing these demands in turn would make it unacceptable to Russia.
New #IAICommentary by @nonamikhelidze.bsky.social ➡️ www.iai.it/en/node/21109
More 🧵👇 1/3
New #IAICommentary by @nonamikhelidze.bsky.social ➡️ www.iai.it/en/node/21109
More 🧵👇 1/3
Reposted by Ken McDonagh
Thanks to @irishexaminer.bsky.social for letting me write this piece about leaders and readers, and the occasional intersection of literature and politics on this island.
November 25, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Thanks to @irishexaminer.bsky.social for letting me write this piece about leaders and readers, and the occasional intersection of literature and politics on this island.