Mary Beth E Altier

Dr. Mary Beth Altier is a Clinical Associate Professor at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs. She received her Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University in 2011.

Dr. Altier’s research interests are in international security, foreign policy, political violence, and political behavior. Her recent work centers on the reasons why individuals support the use of political violence in developed and developing democracies as well as why they participate in acts of political violence, especially terrorism. She is also interested in the disengagement and rehabilitation of ex-combatants and identifying empirically based methods for assessing risk of re-engagement. Dr. Altier is preparing a book manuscript based upon her dissertation, which won the 2013 American Political Science Association’s Ernst B. Haas award, and she is also the 2015 recipient of the American Political Science Association’s Organized Section on European Politics and Society’s Best Paper Award. Her research has been published in the Journal of Peace Research, Security Studies, Terrorism and Political Violence, Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, and Journal of Strategic Security and she serves on the Editorial Board of Studies in Conflict and Terrorism and Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression. Dr. Altier regularly briefs members of the US government and intelligence community and she has offered expert insight on terrorist desistance, disengagement, and deradicalization and relevant programming to select European states.

At the Center for Global Affairs, Professor Altier teaches courses on Transnational Security, Transnational Terrorism, Counterterrorism and Homeland Security, Security Sector Governance and the Rule of Law, and Analytic Skills. In 2017, she received the NYU SPS Excellence in Teaching Award.