Dickey Center for International Understanding

08/26/2026

"At a time when the public is sensitive to affordability concerns and feels insecurity about their jobs, disrupting trade with a close and popular ally creates challenges for the GOP in these and other states.” Prof. Douglas Irwin in HuffPost on Canada tariffs. https://zurl.co/V7ate

Four competitive Senate races are in states that border Canada. If tariffs raise prices, guess which party undecided voters are likely to blame?

08/21/2026

Elizabeth Shackelford: AI should be managed like nuclear weapons.

In her most recent column for the Chicago Tribune, our distinguished lecturer argues that the recent escape of AI agents from their testing environment absent human knowledge was a reminder of the vast potential and great risk that AI poses to humanity.

"AI will likely become the most powerful tool humans have created, potentially even more dangerous than nuclear weapons. This means it needs a concerted global effort to manage and regulate it, similar to what the world has done to manage nuclear technology. Unfortunately, that is not the path we are on today," she notes.

https://zurl.co/931FV

The AI threat could be even greater than nuclear weapons since agents can operate independent of and contrary to human action or direction.

08/21/2026

Art History professor Nick Camerlenghi and a team of Dartmouth students have begun excavating the Convento del Colombaio, a ruined convent in the hills Tuscany. Dartmouth serves as lead institution for a team drawn from eight universities and research centers. https://zurl.co/b8PLA

Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth

08/13/2026

“Its like not allowing your primary care doctor to tell you how you’re doing. Taking away the checkup doesn’t stop the changes from happening.” Melody Brown Burkins, Director of the Institute of Arctic Studies, quoted in the Washington Post in response to the Trump administration's ending of support for the Arctic Report Card.

https://zurl.co/SYBLt

(Photo: Alice Li/The Washington Post)

08/12/2026

Dartmouth’s Druckenmiller Joins Norwegian Prime Minister to Announce International Polar Year Coordination Office. “What motivates me most is the chance to build on years of collaboration with Indigenous Peoples and Arctic communities and bring them into IPY-5 as full partners from the beginning. This coordination office gives us a foundation to advance science that is grounded in genuine partnership as we navigate rapid change together."

https://zurl.co/yMFwW

Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth

08/11/2026

In her latest opinion piece for the Chicago Tribune, Elizabeth Shackelford takes issue with the Trump administration's claim that we're at imminent risk of a communist takeover.

"If there is a communist threat clawing its way into the halls of American power, that threat is coming from inside the White House, which is interfering with the free market to strengthen its own centralized power," she writes. https://zurl.co/fmHvG

Why has the “Red Scare” returned now? Because when a party in power is deeply unpopular, it must find another boogeyman.

08/10/2026

Summer check-in from Wli, Ghana: Brooke Nind '26, Dickey Postgraduate Fellow in International Affairs, is spending her summer with Sage Experience, co-facilitating a high school leadership program for Ghanaian and international students, featuring projects on everything from menstrual hygiene education to tourism planning.

Checked off the bucket list: hiking Wli Falls, the tallest waterfall in West Africa with Sophia Sims '27.

It's not easy to follow a dream of doing international work right after graduation; that's what our postgraduate fellowships are here to support.

08/07/2026

On the Blue Blaze substack, Government Professor Jennifer Lind explores the context behind the recent kerfuffle over signage at the Smithsonian. "What many Americans will see as a crisis is something else: people arguing, out loud, about their country’s story. This suggests not democratic decay, but strength," she argues. https://zurl.co/IQueF

America Worst vs America First

08/06/2026

Michèle Flournoy, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and W. Scott Gould, former Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs, sat down with our War & Peace Fellows to talk career paths across think tanks, public service, and consulting. The conversation ranged widely: AI's implications for national security, the future of U.S. defense acquisition, the state of the transatlantic alliance and NATO, and how to actually break into government work.