Experts

Dale Copeland

Faculty Senior Fellow

Fast Facts

  • Professor of international affairs, University of Virginia Department of Politics
  • Recipient of numerous awards, including MacArthur and Mellon Fellowships and a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
  • Expertise in international relations, international economics, security studies, political economy 

Areas Of Expertise

  • Foreign Affairs
  • American Defense and Security
  • War and Terrorism
  • Economic Issues

Dale Copeland, faculty senior fellow, is professor of international affairs in the UVA Department of Politics. A graduate of Queen’s University (B. Comm), Johns Hopkins (MA), and the University of Chicago (PhD), Copeland specializes in security studies and political economy. He is the author of many publications, including Economic Interdependence and War, which examines the conditions under which inter-state trade will lead to either war or peace and won the 2017 Best Book Award of the International Studies Association. He is also the author of The Origins of Major War, which studies the rise and fall of great world powers and the devastation of system-wide war. Other research interests include the origins of economic interdependence between great powers, the realist-constructivist divide, in-group/out-group theory and the logic of reputation-building, and the interconnection between international political economy and security studies.

Copeland is the recipient of numerous awards, including MacArthur and Mellon fellowships and a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University.

His latest book is A World Safe for Commerce: American Foreign Policy from the Revolution to the Rise of China.

Featured Publications

World safe for commerce
A World Safe for Commerce

Dale Copeland

Economic Interdependence
Economic Interdependence and War

Dale Copeland

Origins of Major War
The Origins of Major War

Dale Copeland

Dale Copeland News Feed

MC Presents
‘The Myth of the Nuclear Revolution: Power Politics in the Atomic Age’
Keir A. Lieber and Daryl G. Press discuss their new book, The Myth of the Nuclear Revolution, which tackles the central puzzle of the nuclear age: the persistence of intense geopolitical competition in the shadow of nuclear weapons. They explain why the Cold War superpowers raced so feverishly against each other; why the creation of "mutual assured destruction" does not ensure peace; and why the rapid technological changes of the 21st century will weaken deterrence in hotspots around the world. Ultimately, Lieber and Press discover answers to critical questions: how much capability is required for a reliable nuclear deterrent, how conventional conflicts may become nuclear wars, and how to prevent new technology from ushering in an age of nuclear instability.
Dale Copeland Miller Center Presents
UVA Today
Q&A: Long-Term Foreign Policy Effects of a Chaotic Withdrawal From Afghanistan
We asked three faculty members in the University of Virginia’s Democratic Statecraft Lab to weigh in on the geopolitical concerns. The Democratic Statecraft Lab is part of UVA’s Democracy Initiative and examines global threats to democracy, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the rise of authoritarian populism or instances of regime change like the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. Politics professor Todd Sechser, who studies coercive diplomacy, nuclear security and political violence, directs the lab. He is joined here by politics professors Dale Copeland, who focuses on international relations theory, and John Owen, who studies American influence around the world and has written about political Islam. All three are also senior fellows at UVA's Miller Center of Public Affairs.
Dale Copeland UVA Today
UVA Rotunda
Miller Center announces new senior fellows
The Miller Center is thrilled to announce its second class of senior fellows, seven accomplished academic professionals who will help the Center in its mission to provide national leaders with the history, perspective, and understanding they need to make effective decisions.