Dr. Matthew P. Dearing is Professor at the College of International Security Affairs (CISA). He has led graduate seminars at CISA since 2014 and taught in every core and concentration course. He is currently course director of Foundations of Irregular Warfare and the NDU elective, Conflict and Cooperation in Africa. He also serves as a faculty member in the NDU Alumni Continuing Education Seminar, the Reserve Component National Security Course, and faculty coach of the CISA Strategy Team.
Dr. Dearing’s research areas include comparative political violence, irregular warfare, and regional studies in South Asia and Africa. He is author of Militia Order in Afghanistan: Guardians or Gangsters (Routledge 2021) and is writing a historical narrative of the Malawi Young Pioneers. He has published on terrorism, conflict stabilization, security sector reform, and field research methods in a range of peer-reviewed journals.
For several years, Dr. Dearing served in leadership positions at CISA including Acting Dean of Faculty and Academic Programs, Associate Dean of Academics, and Director of the South and Central Asia Program. Prior to joining CISA, he served as an irregular warfare advisor in Afghanistan, a research associate at the Naval Postgraduate School, and a rifleman in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Dr. Dearing obtained his Doctoral and Masters degrees at the National Security Affairs Department, Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. He obtained a Bachelors degree in International Political Economy at the University of California Berkeley. In his spare time, he is an avid outdoorsman and participates in several wildlife conservation activities.