Issue briefs and reports

Rouhani’s first one hundred days

By Yasmin Alem and Barbara Slavin

Cautious domestic reforms and nuclear breakthrough After eight turbulent years during which conservatives monopolized Iranian politics, the election of centrist cleric Hassan Rouhani on June 14, 2013, marked a new chapter in post-revolutionary Iranian politics. In the latest Iran Task Force issue brief, “Rouhani’s First One Hundred Days: Cautious Domestic Reforms and Nuclear Breakthrough,” authors […]

Al-Shabaab’s Somali Safe Havens: A Springboard for Terror

The Africa Center’s Assistant Director Joshua Meservey argues in the Perspectives on Terrorism journal that Al-Shabaab’s September 2013 terror attack on the Westgate mall in Nairobi is not, as some have argued, a sign of the group’s desperation, but is instead evidence of its intact capabilities. Download the PDF

Building a better US-Gulf partnership

By Richard LeBaron

A new Atlantic Council issue brief, “Building a Better US-Gulf Partnership,” contends that the United States and its Gulf partners must prioritize and build on their shared interests in light of ongoing erosion of ties, and a fundamental gap in expectations about the US role in the region and its commitment to security for the […]

IntelBrief: Mixing Oil and Water in Northern Kenya

By Adrienne Chuck

Bottom Line Up Front In the past 18 months, scientists and oil exploration companies have discovered an estimated 300 million barrels of crude oil and 250 billion cubic meters of water in the impoverished county of Turkana, in northwest Kenya

The Danger of Divergence: Transatlantic Financial Reform & the G20 Agenda

By Chris Brummer

Since the last report on this topic—The Danger of Divergence: Transatlantic Cooperation on Financial Reform, published in 2010 by the Atlantic Council and Thomson Reuters—the United States and Europe have worked to translate an ever-growing body of international financial regulations into legally binding domestic regulations. Although this process has been largely harmonious and remarkably consistent, […]

Envisioning 2030: US strategy for the coming technology revolution

By Atlantic Council

Building upon this statement, this year’s Envisioning 2030: US Strategy for the Coming Technology Revolution, edited by Strategic Foresight Initiative Director Mathew J. Burrows, explores the consequences of major disruptions that will be caused by emerging technologies and recommends that the United States must prepare now if it wants to remain competitive on the global stage.

Training Our Future: Skilled Workers and the Revival of American Manufacturing

By Alexei Monsarrat

Despite the economic challenges facing the United States following the financial crisis, recent economic developments provide new hope for the future of the US economy. Cheaper energy from newly accessible domestic shale deposits is driving down the cost of manufacturing. Labor factors that once drove production overseas during the 1980s through the early 2000s are slowly beginning […]

EU-Turkish Energy Relations in the Context of EU Accession Negotiations: Focus on Natural Gas

By David Koranyi and Nicolò Sartori

The European Union (EU) and Turkey have been on a divergent path over the past five years, but energy security is one of those sectors where the two partners would clearly benefit from closer cooperation. This paper by Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Deputy Director David Koranyi and Nicolò Sartori, researcher in the security and defence department at […]

Yemen’s economic agenda: Beyond short-term survival

By Danya Greenfield

A new Atlantic Council report, Yemen’s Economic Agenda: Beyond Short-Term Survival, argues that if the Yemeni government fails to prioritize progress on the economic front, the country’s democratic transition risks derailment and may witness renewed conflict. Prioritizing the economy has been postponed because of political uncertainty and security problems, but the status quo can no […]