Professional Affiliation

Columbia University

Expert Bio

Matthew Connelly is a professor of international and global history at Columbia University. He is co-director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, and principal investigator of History Lab, an NSF-funded project to apply data science to the problem of preserving the public record and accelerating its release. His publications include A Diplomatic Revolution: Algeria's Fight for Independence and the Origins of the Post-Cold War Era, which won five prizes, and Fatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World Population, an Economist and Financial Times book of the year. His current book project, to be published by Random House, is titled The Declassification Engine. Matt has written research articles in Nature Human Behaviour, The Annals of Applied Statistics, Comparative Studies in Society and History, The International Journal of Middle East Studies, The American Historical Review, and Past & Present. He has also provided commentary on international affairs for The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Le Monde, and has hosted documentaries for BBC Radio.

Wilson Center Project

"The Problem of Prevision"

Project Summary

This project explores the historical origins of contemporary world politics. Events of the "post-Cold War era" revealed continuities with the more distant past, though seeing them requires a more global perspective. After having written a case study of the impact of globalizing trends on particular countries during the Cold War, then a history of the global response to one of the most important among them - population growth and movement - I will now examine the very idea of historical trends, and the idea that they can be projected into the future. The book would broaden the historical study of prevision beyond the literature and popular culture of a handful of societies. It would seek to explain how and why a fascination with the future has become a global phenomenon with global impact.

Major Publications

• "Seeing Beyond the State: The Population Control Movement and the Problem of Sovereignty," Past & Present, forthcoming.
• A Diplomatic Revolution: Algeria's Fight for Independence and the Origins of the Post-Cold War Era (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002; paperback edition 2003)
• "Taking off the Cold War Lens: Visions of North-South Conflict During the Algerian War for Independence," The American Historical Review 105 (June 2000): 739-769