Issue briefs and reports

A US-South Korea alliance strategic memo on countering Beijing’s economic coercion

By Kyoko Imai, Markus Garlauskas

Economic interdependence of South Korea, United States, and other Indo-Pacific countries with China is enabling Beijing to pose threats to national security through economic coercion. To reduce these risks, Seoul and Washington should align strategies in advanced technologies, secure supply chains through trilateral cooperation with Japan, and reinforce the rules-based system in the Indo-Pacific.

How Europe can escape its structural energy weakness amid great power competition

By Ben Judah, Tim Sahay, Shahin Vallée, and Francis Shin

This report argues that the EU will need to engage in deep structural and political reforms to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

The top risks and opportunities for 2024

By Peter Engelke, Paul Saffo

2023 was marked by war in the Middle East and in Europe. What else looms on the horizon? The Atlantic Council’s top experts brought their globe-spanning expertise to the task of forecasting the near future.

Six ‘snow leopards’ to watch for in 2024

Atlantic Council foresight experts spot the underappreciated phenomena that could have outsize impact on the world, driving global change and shaping the future.

Global Foresight 2024

In this year’s Global Foresight edition, our experts identify the top risks and opportunities for 2024. Our foresight team spots “snow leopards” that could have major unexpected impacts in 2024 and beyond. And we share findings from our survey of global strategists and foresight practitioners on how human affairs could unfold over the next decade.

Design questions in the software liability debate

By Maia Hamin, Sara Ann Brackett, and Trey Herr, with Andy Kotz

Software liability—resurgent in the policy debate since its mention in the 2023 US National Cybersecurity Strategy—describes varied potential structures to create legal accountability for vendors of insecure software. This report identifies key design questions for such regimes and tracks their discussion through the decades-long history of the debate.

Atlantic Council Commission on Defense Innovation Adoption: Final report

By Whitney M. McNamara, Peter Modigliani, Matthew MacGregor, and Eric Lofgren*

The DoD must accelerate defense innovation adoption from the leading edge of the private sector. This report has ten recommendations to do so and features eight vignettes that explore how these actions may play out in practice.

Developing an agenda for international financial institutions and central bank digital currency

By Greg Brownstein and Utsav Saksena

Is the emerging architecture appropriate, effective, and sufficient to manage the global transition to digital money? This report focuses on three domains: financial stability, development and financial inclusion, and global payment systems.

Governance reform of the Bretton Woods Institutions

By Sienna Nordquist and Joel Christoph

The paper emphasizes the need for a governance reform roadmap at the IMF and World Bank focusing on quota reallocation, diplomatic efforts, and a commitment to diversity and democratic principles.

Navigating subsidy reform at the WTO

By Sona Muzikarova and Sophia Busch

The legitimacy of the World Trade Organization is in question. The United States and its allies, and leaders in the organization, can better wield its potential to address global issues, specifically to reduce inefficiencies from fragmentation caused by subsidies.