Dr. Dale Copeland

Dale Copeland is Professor of international relations, with a focus on IR theory (security studies and international political economy).  His research interests include the origins of economic interdependence between great powers; the logic of reputation-building; bargaining and coercion theory; the interconnection between trade, finance, and militarized behavior; and the impact of the rise and decline of economic and military power on state behavior.   His most recent book is Economic Interdependence and War (Princeton UP, 2015), which was the winner of the International Studies Association Best Book Award for 2017.   The book was the subject of two recent symposia, the first in the International Security Studies Forumin Spring 2016 (with Benjamin Fordham, Richard Maass, and Patrick Shea), and the second in Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research, Fall 2018 (with Timothy McKeown, Sherry Zaks, and Erik Gartzke).   Prof. Copeland is also the author of The Origins of Major War(Cornell UP, 2000) as well as numerous articles in journals such as International Security,Security Studies, and the Review of International Studies.   He is currently completing a book for Princeton University Press on commerce and American foreign policy from the founding of the republic to the present era, and is developing a new book project on the conditions under which states can use coercion and bargaining to achieve their ends without war.   He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including MacArther and Mellon Fellowships and a post-doctoral fellowship at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.

Under President Biden, the U.S. has advanced new ideas about trade, technology, industrial policy, competition with China, and the organization of the world economy. For most of the postwar era, the U.S. has tied its global leadership to cooperative agendas aimed at creating a more open-world trading system, but that has apparently come to an end. What are America’s options and opportunities as a leader of the world economy? How will America’s “foreign policy for the middle class” and strategic competition with China impact its leadership role? How can the postwar rules and institutions of the world economy be made safe for economic nationalism and great power competition?