Hi, I'm Barbara.

Barbara F. Walter is one of the world's leading experts on civil wars, violent extremism and domestic terrorism. She is the author of five books and dozens of articles on these subjects and is a frequent live guest on CNN, MSNBC and PBS. Walter has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Time, the New Republic, and Foreign Affairs. She has also consulted for the World Bank, the Departments of Defense and State, the United Nations, and the January 6th Committee.

Walter was the recipient of the 2022 Peacemaker of the Year Award, given by the National Conflict Resolution Center, and the International Studies Association's highest career award, the Susan Strange Award (it recognizes a person whose intellect, assertiveness, and insight most challenge conventional wisdom and intellectual and organizational complacency in the international studies community).

She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a permanent member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a TED2023 speaker.

Her most recent book on civil wars, New York Times bestseller "How Civil Wars Start and How to Stop Them," was named the best book of the year by The Times (UK), and one of the best books of the year by the Financial Times, Esquire and Prospect Magazine. The New York Times Book Review called the book "Required reading for anyone invested in preserving our 246-year experiment in self-government." 

Walter is the Rohr Professor of International Affairs at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and did post-doctoral fellowships at the Olin Institute of Strategic Studies at Harvard University, and the War & Peace Institute at Columbia University.

When not working, she loves to paint and draw and do anything with art. She has a tendency to stick post it notes all over her house and to cook with exuberance. She has a goofy side that's been terribly neglected. She wishes she danced more.