Mattie Christine Webb

Thank you!

Six new nonresident fellows join the Institute for Global Affairs at Eurasia Group The experts in IGA’s 2026 cohort of visiting fellows will conduct policy-relevant research and promote greater public understanding of critical geopolitical issues.

Follow our nonresident fellows on social media and keep an eye out for their important work.

instituteforglobalaffairs.org/2026/02/nonr...

@mattiecwebb.bsky.social, PhD, is an assistant professor of history at the Virginia Military Institute, specializing in US foreign relations, labor, and the global politics of race and inequality.

Mattie will bring a historical lens to contemporary debates on sanctions and corporate power.

I’m excited to officially join the Institute for Global Affairs at Eurasia Group @instglobalaffairs.bsky.social as a 2026 Nonresident Fellow!

The Bill of Rights: What Does it Say? Español Accordion [accordion classes="" id="59774" expand_first="true"][/accordion] Back to Main Page How Did it Happen?

Want to see our fundamental rights as Americans according to the Bill of Rights?

Like…the right to peaceably assemble (i.e. protest?)

Here you go.

www.archives.gov/founding-doc...

in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today

#AHA26 highlights. It was great spending a few days in Chicago, reconnecting with friends and colleagues from all over. Got some feedback on a chapter for an edited volume, participated in an op-ed workshop, and explored the city. Can’t wait to be back—such an underrated city.

Two AHA panels that will be of great interest to historians of empire, labor, and the Cold War. Looking forward to seeing many of you in Chicago later this week!

Saving Apartheid | Columbia University Press During the 1980s, as global antiapartheid sentiment grew, an international coalition of far-right activists arose to preserve racial hierarchy in South Afric... | CUP

Thinking about what to put on your reading list to kick off the new year? My book, Saving Apartheid: White Internationalism at the End of the Cold War is officially available for preorder (for release March 2026) wherever books are sold. Beyond excited!

cup.columbia.edu/book/saving-...

Broke: America is a violent, expansionist empire but we tell ourselves we're not
Woke: Damn straight we're a violent, expansionist empire and we're not not going to hide it anymore

Excited to catch up with so many SHAFR members at #AHA26. If you’re around on Saturday, catch our 3:30 panel: “Foreign Policy and Organized Labor during the Cold War: New History of a Pivotal Era”

Carter and Zbig on a run

Currently reviewing “Zbig” by Edward Luce. Stumbled upon this fun, brutally honest caption. Carter was a consistent runner, logging occasional 12 mile efforts. So I’m not surprised Zbig struggled to hang on!

Thanks for the opportunity for me to share my work!

I’m thrilled to share my Krooss Prize summary, which Enterprise & Society @entandsoc.bsky.social recently published. I was a finalist for last year’s dissertation prize at the Business History Conference. My short article provides a preview of my forthcoming book with Columbia University Press.

• If the U.S. military operation to interdict and destroy suspected narcotraFicking vessels is a “non-international armed conflict,” as the Trump Administration suggests, orders to “kill everybody,” which can reasonably be regarded as an order to give “no quarter,” and to “double-tap” a target in order to kill survivors, are clearly illegal under international law. In short, they are war crimes. • If the U.S. military operation is not an armed conflict of any kind, these orders to kill helpless civilians clinging to the wreckage of a vessel our military destroyed would subject everyone from SECDEF down to the individual who pulled the trigger to prosecution under U.S. law for murder.

Highlighted sentence at the end of the document reads: Again, the bottom line is that, since orders to kill survivors of an attack at sea are “patently illegal,” anyone who issues or follows such orders can and should be prosecuted for war crimes, murder, or both.

Former US military lawyers speak out:

"The Former JAGs Working Group unanimously considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both."

Statement on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes

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Check out this LAWCHA roundtable on Emma Amador's book! The Politics of Care Work: Puerto Rico Women Organizing for Social Justice...Wed., Oct. 22, 7pm...

I also reflect on the state of archives, digital/public hist initiatives, and university–community collaboration. Taken together, the roundtable essays “reflect the dynamism of the field but equally the constraints and limitations of historical work 30 years into SA’s democracy"

30 Years of Democracy: 1994–2024 Roundtable Published in South African Historical Journal (Ahead of Print, 2025)

I’m honored to have contributed to the South African Historical Journal’s “30 Years of Democracy: 1994–2024” roundtable. My essay, “Reflecting on South African History,” offers an overview of post-1994 trends in transnational and labor history. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Looking forward to participating in the "What Force on Earth? Theorizing the Labor Movement" conference at the University of Chicago this weekend. I'll be on a panel on economic democracy. The lineup looks fantastic:

neubauercollegium.uchicago.edu/events/what-...

Looks like an excellent panel!

If you find yourself this afternoon at Day 2 of #SHAFR2025, come on by Studio D from 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm for an incredible lightning round of research from rising junior scholars @shafrhistorians.bsky.social

On the way to DC for the annual SHAFR conference. I’m looking forward to catching up with friends, attending some exciting panels, and suffering through the current DC heat wave. If you’re free, come to our Sat morning roundtable on The Global Cold War at 20! @shafrhistorians.bsky.social

The Long History of the U.S. Backing White South Africans The recent welcoming of Afrikaner refugees is the latest chapter in a history of U.S. support for white South Africans.

“By casting Afrikaners as victims, the U.S. continues to protect power disguised as persecution; it heeds the calls of the privileged, while ignoring those still living with apartheid’s scars.”

time.com/7287684/hist...

It’s like none of these people understood Legally Blonde at all

Could not agree more! My book, Saving Apartheid: White Internationalism at the End of the Cold War, traces exactly this transatlantic connection between apartheid and the American right from 1980 to 1994. Out with Columbia University Press late 2025/early 2026!

Agreed! So glad I opted to hold one

Off to Santa Barbara for the International Graduate Student Conference on the Cold War, hosted by UCSB’s Center for Cold War Studies and International History. Looking forward to being back in California! I’m very biased, but this is one of the best conferences out there, esp for grad students

It was so helpful—I have a lot to think through/revise over the summer!

So glad you could be a part of it! I can’t thank you enough for the thoughtful feedback!