Matthew Frakes

Matthew Frakes

Contact
National Security Policy Center
Office Hours: By appointment

Field & Specialties

U.S. Foreign Relations and National Security
American Presidents and War
Cold War and Post–Cold War Strategy
Anglo–American Relations

Education

M.A., University of Virginia, 2019
M.Sc., London School of Economics, 2017
M.A., Columbia University, 2017
A.B., Princeton University, 2013

Biography

Matthew Frakes is a Ph.D. candidate in international history, advised by William Hitchcock. His work focuses on United States diplomatic and political history, with particular emphasis on the late Cold War and the emergence of the post–Cold War world. His dissertation, titled “Rogue States: The Making of America’s Global War on Terror, 1980–1994,” examines the transition to the new global order that replaced the Cold War world. It traces the rise of strategies to fight the emerging national security threats of rogue states, terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction from the early Reagan years to the aftermath of the Gulf War.

Matt has been awarded the Jefferson Fellowship at the Jefferson Scholars Foundation and the History Department’s Graduate Teaching Award for teaching excellence. He is currently a National Security Fellow at the Batten School’s National Security Policy Center as he completes his dissertation.

Publications

Review of Timothy Andrews Sayle, Enduring Alliance: A History of NATO and the Postwar Global Order (2019), H-War, H-Net Reviews, October 2020, https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=55172.
 
"Reagan, Rogue States, and the Problem of Terrorism," Sources and Methods, History and Public Policy Program, Wilson Center, September 2020, https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/reagan-rogue-states-and-problem-t....

Current Research

Dissertation Project: "Rogue States: The Making of America's Global War on Terror, 1980–1994"

Master's Thesis (University of Virginia): "Act of War: Reagan, Thatcher, and Counterterrorism Strategy during the American Bombing of Libya, 1986" (2019)
 
Master's Thesis (Columbia University/London School of Economics): "A Breach in the Special Relationship? Reagan, Thatcher, and the American Invasion of Grenada, 1983" (2017)

Awards & Honors

National Security Fellowship, National Security Policy Center, University of Virginia (2022–Present)
 
Dean's Dissertation Completion Fellowship, University of Virginia (2022–Present)
 
Jefferson Fellowship, Jefferson Scholars Foundation, University of Virginia (2020–2022)
 
Corcoran Department of History Graduate Teaching Award, University of Virginia (2021)
 
Dumas Malone Graduate Research Fellowship, University of Virginia (2020)
 
Cold War Essay Contest First Prize, Adams Center for Military History and Strategic Analysis, Virginia Military Institute (2019), for "Act of War: Reagan, Thatcher, and Counterterrorism Strategy during the American Bombing of Libya, 1986"
 
Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Summer Research Fellowship, University of Virginia (2019)
 
Richard Hofstadter Dissertation Prize, Columbia University and London School of Economics (2017), for "A Breach in the Special Relationship? Reagan, Thatcher, and the American Invasion of Grenada, 1983"
 
Alliance Fellowship, Columbia University and London School of Economics (2016)

Courses Taught

HIUS 3172 America in Vietnam (with Prof. Marc Selverstone, Summer 2020)
HIST 2214 The Cold War, 1945–1991 (with Prof. William Hitchcock, Fall 2018 and Spring 2020)
HIST 2002 The Modern World: Global History since 1760 (with Prof. Philip Zelikow, Fall 2019)
HIST 3452 The Second World War (with Prof. Philip Zelikow, Spring 2019)