The GCC in the global power cycle: The reform-security nexus

Russia Tomorrow Dec 12, 2025

The Russian economy in 2025: Between stagnation and militarization 

By Elina Ribakova, Lucas Risinger

The latest report in the Atlantic Council’s Russia Tomorrow series examines the Russian wartime economy.
Economy & Business Europe & Eurasia
The GCC in the global power cycle: The reform-security nexus

Issue Brief Dec 4, 2025

A stronger, safer, and more prosperous hemisphere: The case for investing in democracy in the Americas

By Antonio Garrastazu and Henrique Arevalo Poincot

This issue brief is the fourth in the Freedom and Prosperity Center’s “Future of democracy assistance” series, which analyzes the many complex challenges to democracy around the world—and highlights actionable policies that promote democratic governance.
Civil Society Democratic Transitions
The GCC in the global power cycle: The reform-security nexus

Issue Brief Dec 12, 2025

In Southeast Asia, the promise and pitfalls of tariff diplomacy are on full display 

By Amy Searight

US President Donald Trump’s high-profile intervention in the Thai-Cambodian border dispute delivered a cease-fire, but its violation exposes the fragility of tariff diplomacy and raises questions about the durability of coercive US diplomacy in the region.
Indo-Pacific Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

Content

Report

Oct 7, 2022

The GCC in the global power cycle: The reform-security nexus

By Eleonora Ardemagni

On reforms and good governance, the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have little to worry about in the current global power cycle, which is shaping an order definitely less Western-centred, and more Eastern-oriented, if compared with the 2010s. National economic goals, rather than foreign policy alliances, traditionally drive top-down reforms in GCC states, including  those with an impact on social and individual freedoms.

Middle East
North Africa

Report

Oct 7, 2022

Egypt’s “new” capital: Reshaping the future to erase the past

By Hafsa Halawa

In recent years, Egypt has fallen into resignation of its social, economic, and political trajectory.

Middle East
North Africa

Report

Oct 7, 2022

The MENA region’s uneasy path towards reforms

By Karim Mezran, Valeria Talbot, Alissa Pavia, Lorenzo Fruganti, Eleonora Ardemagni, Andrew Farrand, Alessia Melcangi and Hafsa Halawa

Decade-old geopolitical transformations have impacted the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) states’ efforts to implement socioeconomic reforms. More recently, the Ukraine war’s reverberations are also likely to affect the MENA countries’ paths towards such reforms.

Middle East
North Africa
The Data Divide

Report

Oct 5, 2022

The data divide: How emerging technology and its stakeholders can influence the fourth industrial revolution

By Joseph T. Bonivel Jr., Solomon Wise

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is highlighted by the interconnection of devices and sensors to the internet. The computing and communication capabilities of these devices allow for roughly 2.5 quintillion byes of data to be produced, stored, and analyzed daily.

Technology & Innovation

Report

Oct 3, 2022

Pakistan sees growing culture of innovation amid tech startup boom

By Hamna Tariq and Uzair Younus

A tightening global macro environment coupled with increasing domestic political instability is a cause of concern for the sector, especially the domestic startup economy.

Economy & Business
Entrepreneurship

Issue Brief

Sep 28, 2022

Privacy in cross-border digital currency: A transatlantic approach

By Giulia Fanti and Nadia Pocher

As a growing number of countries explore Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) for the domestic context, multi-country cross-border CBDCs pilots are also proliferating. Cross-border CBDCs could make cross-border payments faster, cheaper, and simpler.

Digital Currencies
Digital Policy

Issue Brief

Sep 27, 2022

The international role of the euro and the dollar: Forever in the lead?

By Martin Mühleisen

This paper argues that this is unlikely for the foreseeable future, in part because a larger global role for the renminbi would be inconsistent with the Chinese leadership’s current policy priorities. However, there is no room for complacency.

Digital Currencies
Digital Policy
western currency dominance cover

Issue Brief

Sep 27, 2022

Will economic statecraft threaten western currency dominance? Sanctions, geopolitics, and the global monetary order 

By Dr. Carla Norrlöf

The return of great power rivalry is stoking renewed fears of weakening Western currency dominance. Financial sanctions are becoming the preferred economic tool for accomplishing geopolitical goals.

China
Europe & Eurasia

Issue Brief

Sep 27, 2022

TTC, IPEF, and the road to an Indo-Pacific trade deal: A new model

By Clete R. Willems, Niels Graham

The Biden administration’s “trade policy for the middle class” is taking shape. Exemplified by the TTC and IPEF, its is “beyond-the-border” issues, such as regulatory alignment and standard setting, attempts to improve supply chain resilience, and efforts to promote high labor and environmental standards. However, to achieve its strategic goals, the administration should consider adding traditional market access components.

China
Economy & Business

Report

Sep 27, 2022

The economic impact of a more efficient US-Mexico border: How reducing wait times at land ports of entry would promote commerce, resilience, and job creation

By Alejandro Brugués Rodríguez, John Byrd, Noé Arón Fuentes Flores, David Gaytan, John Gibson, Camila Hernández, Mayra Maldonado, Jason Marczak, Jorge Eduardo Mendoza Cota, Roberto Ransom, and Ignacia Ulloa

Improvements in border management and the adoption of new technologies at the US-Mexico border have the potential to enhance border security and generate economic benefits for the United States and Mexico through expedited flows of goods and people.

Economy & Business
Latin America
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