About the Council

The Atlantic Council promotes constructive leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the Atlantic Community’s central role in meeting global challenges. The Council provides an essential forum for navigating the dramatic economic and political changes defining the twenty-first century by informing and galvanizing its uniquely influential network of global leaders. Through the papers we write, the ideas we generate, and the communities we build, the Council shapes policy choices and strategies to create a more secure and prosperous world.

NATO 20/2020

Twenty bold ideas to reimagine the Alliance after the 2020 US election

More than two decades after NATO’s inspired decision to invite former adversaries to join its ranks, the Alliance is in need of equally captivating ideas. The essays in this volume are intended to push the Alliance to think boldly and creatively in the service of recapturing the public’s imagination.

Read our provocative essays on the future of NATO

Explore the podcast series

Making a difference

Learn more about the Atlantic Council’s insights & impact through these stories of how our regional and thematic programs are making a difference not only in shaping how we view global issues but also in shaping their outcome.

Latest commentary and analysis


Econographics

Jun 19, 2026

Central banks can’t afford to keep missing their inflation targets

By
Jack Muldoon

While the Iran war explains the sudden rise in inflation, relying on this excuse obscures that there is potentially a long-term problem central banks will need to confront as they manage the long tail of this crisis.


Economy & Business


Macroeconomics


UkraineAlert

Jun 18, 2026

Putin’s obsession with ‘denazifying’ Ukraine makes peace impossible

By
Peter Dickinson

Putin’s obsession with “denazifying” Ukraine makes a mockery of efforts to portray the Russian invasion as a mere land grab and helps explain why there has been no meaningful progress toward peace despite more than a year of US-led efforts, writes Peter Dickinson.


Conflict


Disinformation


Podcast

Jun 18, 2026

“Shoot everybody”: US contractors in San Diego court

By
Alia Brahimi

In Season 2, Episode 16 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by Daniel McLaughlin, an international lawyer and Legal Director of the Centre for Justice and Accountability (CJA), a California-based legal nonprofit working on behalf of victims of torture and other atrocity crimes. Daniel and CJA are leading a civil suit in San Diego against a Delaware-registered PMC, Spear Operations Group, for war crimes in Yemen. They represent the Yemeni parliamentarian Anssaf Ali Mayo, who was one of the targets of an alleged hit-squad in Yemen. Daniel talks us through the facts of the case, how it ended up in a California courtroom ten years later, and which US and international laws were ostensibly broken by the PMC. He also argues forcefully that the US government has a duty to regulate how former members of its military use their training and know-how.


Middle East


Rule of Law

Latest in-depth research and reports

Content

In the News

Sep 30, 2015

Hof and Stein on Russian Bombing in Syria

By Frederic C. Hof and Aaron Stein

Business Insider UK quotes Rafik Hariri Center Resident Senior Fellow Frederic C. Hof and Nonresident Fellow Aaron Stein on Russia’s reasons for airstrikes in Syria:

Russia Syria

In the News

Sep 30, 2015

Pham on Somalia’s New US Ambassador

By J. Peter Pham

The Washington Diplomat quotes Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham on the appointment of Ahmed Isse Awad as Ambassador of Somalia to the United States, the first to hold the post in twenty-four years:

Somalia

In the News

Sep 30, 2015

Karatnycky: Obama’s Strong Signal to Putin

By Adrian Karatnycky

Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Adrian Karatnycky writes for The Kyiv Post on Obama’s authorized security assitance to Ukraine:

Ukraine

In the News

Sep 30, 2015

Karatnycky on US Assistance to Ukraine

By Adrian Karatnycky

Business Insider quotes Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Adrian Karatnycky on US aid in radar equipment to be shipped to Ukraine: 

Ukraine

In the News

Sep 30, 2015

Stein on Russian Involvement in Syria

By Aaron Stein

Business Insider UK quotes Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Fellow Aaron Stein on the impact of Russian airstrikes in Syria on jihadist groups: 

Russia

In the News

Sep 30, 2015

Shaffer Delivers NATO Lecture on Energy Security Policy

By Brenda Shaffer

Global Energy Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Brenda Shaffer delivered a lecture and led an exercise that focused on threats to energy security supply related to market structure, geopolitical developments, and physical attacks on major energy infrastructure as part of a NATO course held in Oberammergau, Germany. The NATO course, Energy Security Strategic Awareness, was attended by senior military […]

In the News

Sep 30, 2015

Aslund on Global Finances

By Anders Aslund

The World Post quotes Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Resident Senior Fellow Anders Aslund on the issues within the world’s globalized financial structure:

In the News

Sep 30, 2015

Hof on the Obama Administration’s Syria Policy

By Frederic C. Hof

Reuters quotes Rafik Hariri Center Resident Senior Fellow Frederic C. Hof on the Obama administration’s Syria policy:

Syria

In the News

Sep 30, 2015

Manning: Asian Stability Hangs in the Balance

By Robert A. Manning

Brent Scowcroft Center Resident Senior Fellow Robert A. Manning cowrites for East Asia Forum Quarterly on current Sino-Japanese relations: 

China Japan

In the News

Sep 29, 2015

Slavin: Obama and Putin Struggle to Find a Way Forward on Syria

By Barbara Slavin

South Asia Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Barbara Slavin writes for Voice of America on disagreements between Obama and Putin on the civil war in Syria:

Russia Syria