Lydia Walker
I am a historian of 20th century global decolonization, with broad interests in the international history of South Asia, Southern Africa, military intervention, and insurgent resistance. I teach history at The Ohio State University where I am Provost Scholar Assistant Professor and Seth Andre Myers Chair in Global Military History. At Ohio State, I am also a faculty Research Associate at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, where I am the Director of the Non-State Archive.
I am the author of States-in-Waiting (Cambridge University Press, 2024), an interconnected history of nationalist insurgent movements and their transnational advocacy networks during postwar global decolonization. My scholarship has appeared in the American Historical Review, Past & Present, and elsewhere. Currently, my research focuses on the history of international intervention during and after the Second World War through the evolving role of the United Nations.
I received a B.A. from Columbia University's School of General Studies and an M.A. and Ph.D. in History from Harvard University. Before joining the Ohio State faculty, I held research positions at Dartmouth College (US), the Institute of Historical Research (UK), The Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (India) and the Institute for History at Leiden University (The Netherlands).