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.

Malala Yousafzai, Kailash Satyarthi Win the Nobel Peace Prize for South 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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New Atlanticist

Oct 11, 2014

Malala Yousafzai, Kailash Satyarthi Win the Nobel Peace Prize for South Asia

By Shuja Nawaz

It is South Asia, in a sense, that has won the Nobel Peace Prize this year. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has rightly honored Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai for her advocacy of education for young girls, and India’s Kailash Satyarthi for his crusade against child labor and enslavement.

India Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Oct 9, 2014

Nigeria’s Finance Minister: African Economy is ‘Nearly a Hot Prospect’

By New Atlanticist

Alongside its urgent focus on West Africa’s outbreak of the Ebola virus, the world should stop to notice a bigger, more basic African fact—the explosive growth of its economy and middle class—says one of the continent’s top economists. Two decades after Africa earned a reputation as the world’s economic basket case, accelerating growth has nearly […]

Africa Economy & Business

New Atlanticist

Oct 9, 2014

After 25 Years, Germans Present the Berlin Wall’s ‘Signature Segment’ to Atlantic Council and Washington

By New Atlanticist

In the quarter-century since the Berlin Wall fell, a group of Germans has created a particular memorial to that event: a three-ton segment of the wall signed by the government and other leaders who managed the peaceful ending of the Cold War. This week, they presented it as a gift to the American people, to […]

Germany

New Atlanticist

Oct 1, 2014

Beyond the Immediate Tragedy: Ebola’s Long-Term Implications

By J. Peter Pham

The deaths of more than 3,000 people from the Ebola virus have stunned and, indeed, frightened the world. The outbreak now hits home — ever since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the first case in which Ebola has been diagnosed outside Africa, in a man from Liberia who took a commercial flight […]

Africa

New Atlanticist

Sep 30, 2014

Crossing Our Fingers for Afghanistan’s New President

By James Rupert

There is painful irony in watching the earnest, smiling Ashraf Ghani take office as Afghanistan’s president. As did his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, Ghani begins his term bearing enormous hopes of both Afghans and the world. If anything, Ghani—as a development economist, longtime World Bank officer and a practiced administrator—has more experience at many parts of […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Sep 29, 2014

In Afghanistan, President Ghani’s First Steps Will Be Critical

By Shuja Nawaz

President Ashraf Ghani took over from President Hamid Karzai in Kabul today in an historic transition. A long dispute over the election result was resolved with a rare compromise that brought Dr. Ghani’s opponent, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, into government in a new position, as “chief executive,” that is shaped as a kind of prime ministership. […]

Afghanistan South Asia

New Atlanticist

Sep 29, 2014

Ukraine News Roundup | September 29

By Irena Chalupa

Ukrainians Topple Lenin Statue in Kharkiv via Huffington Post In Eastern Ukraine, a Bellicose Mood Prevails via NPR Russia, Ukraine in a Gas Dispute as Winter Approaches via Washington Post Belarus Lures Ukrainians Picking Dictatorship over War via Bloomberg Ukraine’s Next Parliament Will Be Different, but Maybe Not Stable via Kyiv Post Empty Moldovan Pipeline Shows Difficulty of Breaking Gazprom Monopoly via RFE/RL

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Sep 26, 2014

Is This Obama’s Golden Foreign Policy Moment?

By Barry Pavel

Four Key Lessons for the Rest of the Obama Term President Barack Obama’s tough speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday struck a very different tone from his past foreign policy speeches, which often highlighted the drawdown of US military forces from overseas conflicts. Instead, this time, and before a global audience, President […]

Middle East Syria

New Atlanticist

Sep 25, 2014

Ukraine News Roundup | September 25

By Irena Chalupa

Poroshenko Sees Ukraine’s EU Application by 2020; Lays Out Reform Program via RFE/RL Borderland: Ukraine’s Dilemma via The New Yorker Ukraine in Turmoil: A Somalia Scenario? via The Economist Lithuania’s President: ‘Russia is Terrorizing Its Neighbors and Using Terrorist Methods’ via Washington Post Cementing Front Lines in Donbas Risks Entrenching Putin’s Influence in Ukraine via […]

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Sep 23, 2014

Here’s How the US Attacks on ISIS Might Alter the Civil War in Syria

By New Atlanticist

As the United States conducts missile and air strikes on the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) in Syria, it could reap the additional strategic benefit of tilting the war there away from the Assad regime and jihadist forces, and in favor of the mainstream rebel groups to which it has given some support. […]

Syria

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