Professional Affiliation

Analyst with the US Government

Expert Bio

Mary Barton is a doctoral candidate in the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia. Her research examines early terrorism and counter-terrorism from a transnational perspective.

Wilson Center Project

"A History of Modern Counter-Terrorism, 1898-1937"

Project Summary

My dissertation research focuses on the development of modern counter-terrorism strategies and practices in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Terrorism emerged as a distinct form of political violence in Europe during the late nineteenth century. By the mid-twentieth century, it was a global phenomenon, shifting from international anarchist violence of the 1890s to anti-colonial and state-sponsored terrorism in the 1920s and 1930s. Faced with an evolving security threat, national governments and the international community responded in a variety of ways. The diverse legal, institutional and diplomatic strategies undertaken by governments at the turn of the twentieth century mark the beginnings of contemporary counter-terrorism.

Major Publications

“The Global War on Anarchism: The United States and International Anarchist Terrorism, 1898-1904” Diplomatic History (2014)