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.

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

Aug 3, 2011

The Lamps Are Going Out All Over Europe

By Julian Lindley-French

The German-Belgian border. 3 August, 2011. Ninety-seven years ago to the day Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary, looked out of his palatial, imperial London office and said, “The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our time”. A few hours later two German armies smashed […]

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Aug 2, 2011

Fiddling Whilst the West Fails: The Great Globalisation Disaster

By Julian Lindley-French

“Forget these frivolous demands which strike a terror to my fading soul”. So Mephistopheles beseeches Marlowe’s Dr Faustus. With American politicians not so much debating whether or not to sell America’s soul, but for what price, the most profound of strategic questions is now apparent. For how long does the West support a system of […]

Economy & Business

New Atlanticist

Aug 2, 2011

Afghanistan and Libya Point NATO to Five Lessons

By Kurt Volker

Both the wars in Afghanistan and Libya reveal serious flaws in the Alliance. If they can’t be fixed, perhaps it’s time for a ‘back to basics’ NATO and a return to coalitions of the willing. Whether it is a matter of weeks or months, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi will probably fall from power, and opposition forces will likely gain […]

Afghanistan
Libya

New Atlanticist

Aug 1, 2011

Somalia: Beyond the Famine

By Peter Pham

Today Somalia is not only the world’s most spectacular case of a failed state—it has, after all, been more than twenty years since the benighted land has had anything resembling a central government—but, thanks to the worst drought in six decades, it is what the United Nations refugee agency has described as the “worst humanitarian […]

Somalia

New Atlanticist

Aug 1, 2011

Slouching Towards a Fiscal Union

By Ben Carliner

It is an old cliché that the European Union only advances in the wake of a crisis. Recently though, it has seemed like every time the EU takes action its response is deemed too little too late.

Economy & Business
European Union

New Atlanticist

Aug 1, 2011

India-Israel: BFFs or Fair Weather Friends?

By Shikha Bhatnagar

Earlier this month, India experienced the first significant terrorist attack within its borders since the horrific events of November 26, 2008 (“26/11”). Although no conclusive evidence of perpetrators has been found to date and clues strongly suggest homegrown elements, the news clips, blogospheres, and twitter-universe were abuzz with conjectures on what India’s actions would and […]

India
Israel

New Atlanticist

Jul 29, 2011

Turkish Military Leadership Resigns and What It Means

By Ross Wilson

Media reported in Turkey late on July 29 that the Chief of the Turkish General Staff (TGS), General Işık Koşaner, and the military service chiefs under him at Land Forces, the Air Force and the Navy have all submitted their resignations.

Turkey

New Atlanticist

Jul 29, 2011

An Effective, Affordable Uncommon Defense, Part 2

By Harlan Ullman

The international environment and its threats and dangers have dramatically transformed from well-armed military forces and states with aggressive and expansive designs to smaller, ideologically motivated groups relying on terror and non-military means to achieve their aims. U.S. and allied defense and security forces must assimilate and respond to these profound shifts. And, while the […]

New Atlanticist

Jul 29, 2011

The New Foreign Policy Frontier

By Anne-Marie Slaughter

A rapidly changing world requires news ways of thinking, and new tools for understanding and engaging with societies as well as governments. The frontier of foreign policy in the 21st century is social, developmental, digital, and global. Along this frontier, different groups of actors in society — corporations, foundations, NGOs, universities, think tanks, churches, civic […]

New Atlanticist

Jul 29, 2011

Iran’s Image Plummets in Arab World, Poll Finds

By Barbara Slavin

Iranian leaders have tried to portray democracy movements in the Arab world as inspired by their 1979 Islamic revolution and predicted that Iran’s regional support would grow as pro- Western dictators fell. However, a new poll by the Arab American Institute shows approval of Iran’s role in the region plummeting since 2006 and especially since […]

Iran

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