In-depth research and reports

Our programs and centers deliver relevant, policy-focused research that matters to inform debate and action. Our focus is always on moving debate forward, integrating analysis with active, relevant conclusions throughout our published work.

Report

Apr 8, 2026

Making aid work in the new geopolitical era will be an uphill battle

By Stefan Dercon

Development aid requires local political commitment, careful project selection, and long-term focus, or it can worsen the problems it seeks to solve. When aid becomes a pawn of geopolitical competition, those conditions for effective aid become more elusive.

Economy & Business Freedom and Prosperity

Issue Brief

Apr 7, 2026

Fusion on paper or in practice? Making the cloud work for ISR and NATO

By Martin Zuber, Trey Herr

NATO’s eastern flank is under persistent pressure across multiple domains. The Alliance's core challenge is not sensing capacity

Defense Technologies NATO

Issue Brief

Apr 6, 2026

From alignment to action: Building a durable US-Argentina critical minerals partnership

By Reed Blakemore, Alexis Harmon, Ignacio Albe

For decades, Argentina's mining potential has been widely recognized without translating into reliable supply. That pattern might be breaking, and deeper US–Argentina cooperation could accelerate development while advancing shared economic and strategic priorities.

Argentina Critical Minerals

Freedom and Prosperity Around the World

Apr 6, 2026

Sri Lanka needs a development plan, not just a recovery narrative

By Nishan de Mel

Sri Lanka's trajectory is marked by volatility rather than steady progress. Gains in political rights, economic openness, and security proved episodic rather than transformative when not supported by a credible rule of law. Breaking from cycles of recovery and crisis requires institutional renewal, social reconciliation, and professional governance.

Fiscal and Structural Reform Inclusive Growth

Issue Brief

Apr 1, 2026

Global payment systems are fragmenting. Here’s what the G20 can do.

By Greg Brownstein

Fragmentation is reshaping global payment systems, driven by technological change, regulatory divergence, market dynamics, and rising geopolitical tensions. While innovation have long-term benefits, the near-term risks to efficiency, inclusion, and financial stability are mounting, demanding a more implementation-focused G20 agenda.

Digital Currencies Economy & Business

Issue Brief

Mar 31, 2026

Securing cloud infrastructure for AI

By Sara Ann Brackett

With AI raising the stakes of cloud security and key cybersecurity institutions weakened or dissolved, this brief outlines needed policy steps to promote transparency and accountability across the cloud ecosystem.

Artificial Intelligence Cybersecurity

Freedom and Prosperity Around the World

Mar 30, 2026

How the Dominican Republic can escape the ‘middle-income trap’

By Marino Auffant

Over three decades, the Dominican Republic has consolidated stable electoral competition and built a diversified, open economy delivering the fastest GDP growth in Latin America. To escape the middle-income trap, the country must now confront deferred structural reforms—especially in education, institutional effectiveness, and fiscal capacity—turning stability into sustained convergence.

Fiscal and Structural Reform Latin America

Report

Mar 30, 2026

How the West lost the post-Cold War era

By Brian Whitmore

The latest Atlantic Council Eurasia Center report examines the lessons from the post-Cold War period and what the United States and its allies can do to counter Russian revanchism today.

Europe & Eurasia Politics & Diplomacy
VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, CALIF., CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES 12.18.2025

Report

Mar 30, 2026

How NATO can integrate AI to prevail in future algorithmic warfare

By Dominika Kunertova

NATO’s competitive edge in the era of emerging and disruptive technologies will come from treating AI as a general-purpose enabler embedded across the Alliance’s digital backbone. Military AI does not generate new risks but creates more room for human error and miscalculation. Accidents and inadvertent escalation thus become more likely as military systems bring in more AI components.

Artificial Intelligence Cybersecurity

Issue Brief

Mar 27, 2026

Deterrence in a two-peer world requires prudence

By Kingston Reif

Washington faces the challenge of preserving credible deterrence and reassuring allies against two potential nuclear peers—possibly acting together—without fueling dangerous instability or draining resources from other defense priorities. This will require a balanced approach that avoids counterproductive arsenal growth.

China Nuclear Deterrence

Issue Brief

Mar 27, 2026

Why US strategic nuclear forces must expand after New START

By Paul Amato

With the New START treaty's caps on the US nuclear force expired, the United States has an opportunity to increase and adapt its nuclear force to deter both Russia and China. Policymakers should seize it.

China Defense Policy

Issue Brief

Mar 26, 2026

After Maduro: Latin America’s policy community reassesses the US-China balance

By Santiago Villa, Thayz Guimarães, Parsifal D’Sola

The US capture of Maduro has significant implications for China’s position in the region. Although Venezuela has been a frustrating partner for China, Beijing has repeatedly stressed its commitment to the bilateral relationship.

China Latin America

Issue Brief

Mar 25, 2026

Negotiating an EU-US biometric information-sharing agreement

By Kenneth Propp

Amid tensions between the US and Europe over trade, tech, and now the war in Iran, Washington and Brussels are negotiating over the US Department of Homeland Security’s request for access to European biometric data. What does each side want—and what is achievable?

Cybersecurity Digital Policy

Report

Mar 25, 2026

Toplines: Deterring Putin’s aggression against NATO

By Richard D. Hooker, Jr.

Five key places in the Nordic and Baltic region are in the Kremlin's crosshairs. How should NATO prepare?

Defense Policy Eastern Europe

Issue Brief

Mar 20, 2026

The economic and political traps awaiting aging societies

By Markus Jaeger

Rapidly aging populations and falling birthrates create fiscal and economic headwinds that even advanced economies struggle to manage. Some middle-income countries are approaching the same “demographic cliff” at an even faster clip, while many lower-income countries face the opposite problem. Policymakers in all cases must be prepared to make politically tough decisions—and soon.

Economy & Business Fiscal and Structural Reform

Issue Brief

Mar 20, 2026

Aquatic Tiger: How long-range submarine drones could play a role in a Taiwan conflict

By Markus Garlauskas with contributions from Drew Holliday, Adam Kozloski, Nicholas Takeuchi, and Paul Vebber

Could submarine drones help the United States deter or counter a Chinese attack on Taiwan? The Aquatic Tiger wargame was designed to find out. The Atlantic Council's Indo-Pacific Security Initiative reports on the wargame's findings, with implications for the US government, the defense industry, and more. 

Conflict Defense Technologies

Issue Brief

Mar 19, 2026

Federal agencies under pressure need smarter systems, not tougher people

By Caitlin Thompson

Resilience is an important trait for national security practitioners, but it is not a solution for problems with agency and department design. Better systems and strategies can ensure that individuals are fully prepared and ready to respond to crises, rather than consistently under strain.

National Security Resilience

Freedom and Prosperity Around the World

Mar 18, 2026

Italy faces a dangerous gap between stability on paper and citizens’ lived experience

By Massimo Morelli

Giorgia Meloni’s three-year tenure as prime minister is unusually long by recent Italian standards. As her government faces its biggest test yet with a referendum on judicial reforms, what explains Meloni’s relative stability—and the frequent turnover that preceded it? A deep dive into economic and political indicators sheds light on Italy’s path forward.

Elections Fiscal and Structural Reform

Issue Brief

Mar 18, 2026

Mythical Beasts: Investigating the role of intermediaries in the proliferation of offensive cyber capabilities

By Jen Roberts, Sarah Graham, and Lyla Renwick-Archibold

The opacity of intermediaries in the OCC marketplace represents a discernible gap in current policy frameworks. Brokers and resellers are essential enablers and connectors of the OCC supply chain.

Cybersecurity Technology & Innovation

Issue Brief

Mar 16, 2026

Reconstructing Gaza starts with giving Palestinians financial agency

By Melanie Robbins 

Palestinians are dependent on Israeli banks for cash and access to the financial system, and Jerusalem has floated the possibility of cutting off that access. Any credible reconstruction plan for Gaza has to account for this—otherwise, essential aid organizations can’t pay local staff, and households and businesses can't pay for daily necessities.

Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion Israel
Load More