A Southern California native, Matthew O'Gara came to RMC in 2008 after teaching for six years in Washington, DC. With specialties in terrorism, political violence, and revolution, his primary scholarly goal is the creation of a theoretical taxonomy of terrorist groups, and to this end he is currently working on a book titled Cultural Narratives and Political Violence, which focuses on the sociopolitical factors that lead to the formation of violent revolutionary movements. He is a citizen of both the United States and Ireland, has done field research in Belfast, and is an avid reader of political fiction.