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.

Compromise and Concession Key to NAFTA Renegotiations: A Lesson From The Past

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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New Atlanticist

Jan 3, 2018

Compromise and Concession Key to NAFTA Renegotiations: A Lesson From The Past

By Diego Marroquin Bitar

Ongoing negotiations in combination with US President Donald J. Trump’s threats to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) unless major concessions are made to serve US interests have unnerved many in all three participating countries who understand that more than the future of a free trade agreement is at risk. All three […]

New Atlanticist

Jan 3, 2018

Afghanistan’s First All-Female TV Network Presses Society’s Buttons

By Teri Schultz

Life for women in Afghanistan has seen many advances since the end of Taliban rule, but the country still ranks poorly when it comes to gender equality. Spousal abuse and child marriage are rampant, while the criminal justice system is ill-equipped to handle complaints from women. Societal silence on these issues compounds the cultural cage […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Jan 2, 2018

A New French Renaissance

By Nicholas Dungan

Just as Queen Elizabeth II offers her yuletide greetings to the British people in her Christmas Day broadcast each December 25, so, tradition goes, the president of France presents his New Year’s wishes to the French people on December 31. Emmanuel Macron’s speech on the last day of 2017 was his first New Year’s address. […]

France

New Atlanticist

Jan 2, 2018

Iranian Habit of Demonstrating Boomerangs Against the Government

By Barbara Slavin

For forty years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has encouraged, even demanded, that its citizens participate in mass demonstrations. Repeatedly, however, Iranians have taken to the streets not to praise the regime, but to protest its policies. The latest protests began December 28, in Mashhad, a conservative city and home to a major Shi’ite Muslim […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Jan 2, 2018

Here’s Everything You Need to Know About the Protests in Iran

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Iran has been rocked by the most significant protests in almost a decade. At least twenty people have been killed. Amir Handjani, a senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center and a Council board member, discussed the reason for the protests, the Iranian government’s response, and how US President Donald J. Trump should […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Jan 1, 2018

100 Years Later, Wilson’s Fourteen Points Deserve Another Look

By Daniel Fried

This January 8 marks the 100th anniversary of President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points speech, a foundational moment in America’s rise to define and lead a rules-based world order. Wilson has not been in fashion for some time: his political rigidity at the end of his career probably tanked Senate acceptance of the League of Nations, […]

New Atlanticist

Dec 26, 2017

2018 Will Be A Year of Living Dangerously On The Korean Peninsula

By Robert A. Manning

As troubling as current tensions are, 2018 promises to be an even more dangerous year on the Korean Peninsula. Amid conflicting signals from US President Donald J. Trump’s administration and anticipated hints of flexibility in North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s New Year’s statement, one immediate question is whether and under what circumstances Washington will be […]

Korea

New Atlanticist

Dec 22, 2017

What Tax Reform Means for US Clean Energy

By Charles Hernick

With the dust now settled on tax reform legislation, the scale and scope of its impact on the United States’ fast-growing clean energy economy is coming more sharply into focus. On December 22, US President Donald J. Trump signed into law a sweeping tax reform bill. While overall the bill could be categorized as less […]

United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Dec 22, 2017

Despite Brexit Gains, All Fundamental Difficulties Remain

By Jack Reynolds and Bart Oosterveld

UK Prime Minister Theresa May might have secured a major victory in the Brexit process, but she still faces exceptional political, social, and economic challenges in the second phase of negotiating the United Kingdom’s separation from the European Union (EU). European Council President Donald Tusk has already stated the latter half of the negotiations “will […]

New Atlanticist

Dec 21, 2017

Addressing the Terrorist Threat Emanating from Pakistan

By Bharath Gopalaswamy

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was right when he recently told an audience at the Atlantic Council that Pakistan’s leadership must eliminate terrorist safe havens, warning that a failure to do so could cause them to “lose control of their own country.” Tillerson said that the US-Pakistan relationship has “really deteriorated” over the past […]

Pakistan

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