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New Dartmouth Project

An outgrowth of the longest-running bilateral dialogue between citizens of Russia and the United States, the New Dartmouth Project is an attempt to create a sustained dialogue about the changing nature of United States-Russian relations.

Introduction to New Dartmouth


In 2001 researchers collaborating with the Kettering Foundation in both Russia and the United States began holding public forums that explored the changing nature of Russian-American relations. What kind of relationship did the two countries want? What were their perceptions of each other? What were their goals for the future?

The New Dartmouth Project is an outgrowth of the original Dartmouth Talks, which began in 1960 at the height of the Cold War with the support of presidents Eisenhower and Khrushchev. “I can’t talk to the Russians,” Eisenhower once told Kettering Foundation board member Norman Cousins. “But somebody better.”

First held at New Hampshire’s Dartmouth College and continued by the Kettering Foundation, for more than 30 years the talks brought leadings citizens from the two countries together to discuss U.S. Soviet Relations.

With the break-up of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, participants in the talks turned their attention to regional conflicts—particularly those involving former Soviet Republics—as well as arms control and the rapidly changing nature of U.S.-Russian relations.

Two key parts of that work were the Inter-Tajik Dialogue, which opened the way for a U.N. brokered peace agreement in Tajikistan and the New Dartmouth Project, an increasingly ambitious exploration of the interaction of civil society in both Russia and the United States.

Through deliberative forums organized by both Russian and American researchers and civil society groups, the New Dartmouth Project seeks to build a sustained dialogue between citizens about the current state and future of relations between the two countries. Research to date has explored not only U.S.-Russian relations, but also such issues as immigration and racial and ethnic tensions—key issues in both countries—to explore their varied perceptions.

As Russia rapidly regains its status as a major power, the goal of this research is to identify the underlying values that drive U.S.-Russian relations in order to help build a more peaceful world.

Explore Research in this Area


A Relationship at the Crossroads
Where democracies are concerned, international relations today are not simply a question of state-to-state relations. They involve “a continuous interaction among whole bodies politic”—direct people-to-people interactions at every level of society. That is especially true today as the citizen-to-citizen interactions between Russians and Americans grow more frequent.

Moscow City Duma and Democracy in Russia
Muscovites believe that the Moscow City Duma is more democratic and intellectual than the Federal Duma. More important, the public sees a closeness and accessibility in the Moscow City Duma’s work with citizens than is evident with the Federal Duma.

The World Is Headed in a New Direction
The 20th century began with a multipolar system, but after 50 years, 2 World Wars, and several smaller conflicts, the world drastically changed to a bipolar structure. Afterwards, the United States and the Soviet Union became the two main powers; they competed for influence, nuclear technology, and ideological beliefs. The fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War led to the emersion of a unipolar power, the United States.

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