Content

Issue Brief

Jul 13, 2015

Reviving Ukraine’s Private Sector: How US Leadership Can Yield Benefits

By Robert Monyak

Ukraine’s economy is flagging. But a Ukrainian economy, integrated with the rest of Europe and by extension, the world economy, is essential for the country’s political stability and its ability to withstand Russian aggression. While the international community is yet to develop a large-scale macro-economic assistance program on the order of the Marshall Plan, the […]

Ukraine

Issue Brief

Jul 6, 2015

Technology will keep changing everything— and will do it faster

By Banning Garrett

In this report, writer and independent consultant Banning Garrett lays out how these technologies are combining to create new, disruptive breakthroughs with potentially unforeseen second- and third-order effects that will alter the way we live forever.

Technology & Innovation

Issue Brief

Jun 23, 2015

Tunisia: From elected government to effective governance

By Karim Mezran and Lara Talverdian

Tunisia has accomplished significant milestones, from ousting an authoritarian regime in 2011 to ushering in a fully elected government in 2015. Nonetheless, the country is still in a critical phase of its transition, balancing the challenges of governance to address pressing economic and security issues. In their Atlantic Council Issue in Focus, “Tunisia: From Elected […]

Democratic Transitions North Africa

Issue Brief

May 18, 2015

A transatlantic approach to Europe’s east: relaunching the Eastern Partnership

By Fran Burwell

On May 20-21, 2015, European leaders will gather for the Eastern Partnership summit in Riga, Latvia, to discuss the future of Europe’s East. Given the extreme challenges faced by the countries of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) since the last summit, in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2013, and the cooling of EU relations with several of the […]

Northern Europe

Issue Brief

May 8, 2015

Beyond Camp David: A gradualist strategy to upgrade the US-Gulf security partnership

By Bilal Y. Saab and Barry Pavel

President Barack Obama’s summit meeting with Gulf leaders at Camp David on May 14 will end in failure if the administration does not propose a substantial upgrade in US-Gulf security relations that is as bold and strategically significant as the nuclear agreement–and likely formal deal–with Iran. While the summit will not suddenly eliminate mistrust and […]

Issue Brief

Apr 27, 2015

Reimagining Pakistan’s militia policy

By Yelena Biberman

If ever a turning point seemed inevitable in Pakistan’s militia policy, it was in the aftermath of the Peshawar school massacre in December 2014. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) killed 152 people, 133 of them children, in the bloodiest terrorist attack in Pakistan’s history. The carnage sparked an unprecedented national dialogue about the costs and contradictions of […]

Arms Control Conflict

Issue Brief

Apr 27, 2015

Defeating the jihadists in Syria: Competition before confrontation

By Faysal Itani

Since August 2014, the US-led air campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has successfully inflicted casualties on ISIS and weakened its oil revenues. However, the same efforts have also accelerated the rise of the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate, and the near-collapse of nationalist rebel forces. In “Defeating the Jihadists in […]

Syria Terrorism

Issue Brief

Apr 21, 2015

Tunisia’s new constitutional court

By Duncan Pickard

January 2014 became a milestone of Arab democracy when Tunisia adopted the first democratic Arab constitution drafted outside the influence of the military or a foreign power. In “Tunisia’s New Constitutional Court,” Duncan Pickard, a Nonresident Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, takes up the next step for the […]

Democratic Transitions Human Rights

Issue Brief

Mar 24, 2015

ISIS war game II: The escalation challenge

By Bilal Y. Saab and Michael Tyson

In September 2014, Bilal Y. Saab, Resident Senior Fellow for Middle East Security at the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft on International Security, and Michael S. Tyson, Marine Corps Senior Fellow at the Scowcroft Center, predicted in a simulation exercise (for results, see “ISIS War Game: The Coming Stalemate“) conducted at the Scowcroft Center’s Middle East […]

Middle East Security & Defense
Photo: REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi

Issue Brief

Mar 12, 2015

Morocco’s gradual political and economic transition

By Mohsin Khan and Karim Mezran

In contrast to popular uprisings throughout the Middle East and North Africa in 2011, Morocco has emerged relatively unscathed, avoiding destabilizing political upheaval or economic impact. The case of Morocco has surprised many observers because its weak and problematic social, political, and economic indicators are much like those of the other transitioning countries. In “Morocco’s […]

Morocco North Africa