ARCHIVED SPECIALIST PROFILE

Program Officer, Africa
Research and Studies Program
(April 2004-September 2004)

Areas of Specialization

U.S. policy toward Africa • U.S. foreign policy making process • Role of U.S. ethnic lobbies in foreign policy

Foreign Language: French

Contact: Office of Congressional and Public Affairs

Background

David Dickson is a program officer in the Research and Studies Program, specializing in African affairs. He teaches part time in the graduate division of George Washington University's national security program and has served in a variety of other teaching and administrative positions, including as head of the M.A. program in political science at Northeastern University in Boston and the interdisciplinary program in international relations at Beloit College in Wisconsin. Dickson sat on the Executive Councils of the New England and Northeast Region Political Science Associations and was director of the Governor's School for International Studies in Memphis, Tennessee. He also chaired the World Affairs Council in Memphis.

Dickson has been a commentator for the electronic and print media on U.S. foreign policy and international issues. His scholarship includes published works on U.S. foreign policy toward Africa as well as the foreign policy formulation process and the role of American ethnic lobbies in that process. A Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, he received his Ph.D. from Harvard University's Government Department.

NOTE: This is an archived profile of a former U.S. Institute of Peace specialist and is current as of September 2004. The Office of Congressional and Public Affairs maintains an extensive list of foreign policy experts outside the Institute—including many former fellows and staff members. For more information on how to contact this individual, please contact the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs by sending an e-mail to publicaffairs@usip.org.