New Atlanticist

Sharp insights and bold ideas from across the Council

From climate change to the China challenge and the contest between democracy and dictatorship, the New Atlanticist is where top experts and policymakers at the Atlantic Council and beyond offer exclusive insight on the most pressing global challenges—and the US role in addressing them alongside allies and partners.

The Council’s flagship section features big ideas, groundbreaking research, lightning-fast expert reactions, in-depth analyses, and thought-provoking commentary to shape public policy.

A new “Asian drama”: Will COVID-19 destroy the progress against poverty eradication and human development in South and East Asia?

New Atlanticist Sep 4, 2025

Dispatches from Damascus: The state of Syria’s postwar transition nine months after Assad’s fall

On a recent trip to the Syrian capital, Atlantic Council experts took note of how far the country has come since the Assad regime’s fall and what still needs to happen to secure peace and prosperity.

New Atlanticist Aug 29, 2025

Twenty questions (and expert answers) about the negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine

By Atlantic Council experts

August saw a flurry of diplomatic activity to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As September nears, Atlantic Council experts share their insights on what to expect next.

Conflict Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

New Atlanticist Aug 28, 2025

Germany wants to double its defense spending. Where should the money go?

By Atlantic Council experts

After decades of Berlin underinvesting in its defense, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has plans to transform the Bundeswehr into Europe’s strongest military.

Defense Policy Europe & Eurasia

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Experts React

Dive deep into developing stories, guided by continually updated expert analysis that leaves you better informed about the most pressing global issues behind the headlines.

Markup

Our experts decipher and annotate major speeches and policy documents to break down big ideas and lay them out in plain language.

New Atlanticist

Apr 4, 2020

A new “Asian drama”: Will COVID-19 destroy the progress against poverty eradication and human development in South and East Asia?

By Ajay Chhibber

With weak health systems and crowded living conditions, the chances of wide-spread pandemic is very high. If COVID-19 is not brought under control quickly, despite all the progress in medicine and healthcare since 1918, the number of deaths may rise rapidly. Governments are responding with lockdowns, more health spending, and fiscal and monetary packages for economic life-support—but with weak social safety nets millions will have fallen back into poverty

Coronavirus
Economy & Business

New Atlanticist

Apr 3, 2020

COVID-19 in the Western Balkans

By Dimitar Bechev

COVID-19 overshadowed two major developments in the region: the EU decision to open membership talks with North Macedonia and Albania, as well as North Macedonia’s formal accession to NATO on March 27. In normal circumstances, this would have been huge news. Yet now the pandemic leaves little bandwidth for other matters, even in the Western Balkans.

Coronavirus
Democratic Transitions

New Atlanticist

Apr 3, 2020

China’s failing coronavirus strategy

By Joe Bodnar

While it is too early to understand the impact of the coronavirus on geopolitics, it is not too early to recognize China as a rising power that is aggressive, opportunistic, and susceptible to mistakes.

China
Coronavirus

New Atlanticist

Apr 3, 2020

The coronavirus infodemic in Latin America will cost lives

By Roberta Braga and Diego Area

Disinformation and misinformation, especially circulating within the biggest economy in Latin America (Brazil) and the country with the worst man-made humanitarian crisis in the hemisphere (Venezuela), can foment national catastrophes that will be felt well beyond the realms of the online information space and national borders.

Brazil
Coronavirus

New Atlanticist

Apr 3, 2020

Can coronavirus achieve elusive unity in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

By Semir Dzebo and Shelby Magid

Their initial response to the COVID-19 outbreak shows that even the staunchest opponents of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s unity are capable of working within its institutions and putting the public interest before their ethno-political ambitions. Now they only need to be willing to do so outside of the threat of a global pandemic.

Coronavirus
Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Apr 3, 2020

American disaster, American resilience

By Daniel Fried

As we contemplate the road back from the coronavirus depression, we need to think big and fix things, at home and abroad. We’re still going deeper into an American disaster. But American resilience can get us out of it.

Coronavirus
Economy & Business

New Atlanticist

Apr 2, 2020

The United States’ stealth diplomat: The Federal Reserve

By Robert Dohner

In stepping forward to calm US financial markets, reactivate swap lines, and create the new foreign repo facility, the Fed has helped backstop the global economy. One may argue whether the United States is still the indispensable nation. What is clear is that, in a crisis, the Federal Reserve is the indispensable central bank.

Financial Regulation
International Financial Institutions

New Atlanticist

Apr 2, 2020

Forging the Four Freedoms Initiative for prosperity and peace in the Balkans

By Marko Čadež

To demonstrate their readiness to fulfill the responsibilities associated with full-fledged membership in the world’s largest common market, the countries of the region launched the Western Balkans Four Freedoms Initiative to bring down barriers to intra-regional trade, travel, and labor movement. While not identical to Roosevelt’s plans, this project seeks to ensure the same outcome of peace and prosperity through liberty, opportunity, and growth.

International Markets
Macroeconomics

New Atlanticist

Apr 1, 2020

Reconciling sanctions and humanitarian need during COVID-19

By Brian O’Toole

As the world economy shuts down to try to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, the humanitarian collateral effects of sanctions become more pronounced and potentially deadly. But the argument that the United States should unilaterally roll back sanctions draws a false dichotomy; sanctions do not have to be suspended or rolled back for the United States to better address humanitarian concerns.

Cuba
Economic Sanctions

New Atlanticist

Apr 1, 2020

Cities “on the front lines” of the coronavirus crisis

By David A. Wemer

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic worsens and deaths increase around the world, national and local governments are racing to prepare their healthcare systems, infrastructure, and economies to weather the current storm. “The world writ large was not adequately prepared to see what has come,” former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said on April 1, adding that now it is up to mayors and local officials who “are really on the frontlines,” to take action to protect their citizens.

Coronavirus
Resilience

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