MacKenna J. Rawlins is a Research Associate for the Stimson Center’s Reimagining U.S. Grand Strategy program. She is currently working with the Defense Strategy & Planning project to develop an updated version of Military Coercion and U.S. Foreign Policy: The Use of Force Short of War (Routledge 2020), a book on U.S. strategy and military operations since the end of the Cold War.

MacKenna graduated magna cum laude from the California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo in 2021 with a BA in Political Science, Global Politics and a Minor in Asian Studies. She also holds an MA in Chinese Economics and Political Affairs with a focus on Foreign Relations and Security from the School of Global Policy & Strategy at the University of California, San Diego. Her research involves text- and data-analysis of US – China relations as well as Chinese foreign policy. MacKenna wrote her graduate thesis on the effects of the Belt & Road Initiative on the economy and public opinion of China in Indonesia and Nigeria.