Events

All Content

The Big Story

Apr 5, 2022

How will the Russia-Ukraine war reshape the world? Here are four possible futures.

By Mathew Burrows, Robert A. Manning

Putin’s war of choice in Ukraine is a world-historical event, marking the final act of the post-Cold War period and the start of a new era, yet unwritten. The spectrum of possible outcomes ranges from a volatile new cold or hot war involving the United States, Russia, and China; to a frozen conflict in Ukraine; to a post-Putin settlement in which Russia becomes part of a revised European security architecture.

Conflict Europe & Eurasia
Indian migrants detained at US-Mexico border

Engagement Reframed

Mar 8, 2022

Engagement Reframed #4: Securing America’s demographic and economic future

By Mathew Burrows

What is the opportunity? Throughout US history, many American entrepreneurial heroes have been immigrants or the children of immigrants—from Alexander Graham Bell and Andrew Carnegie, both born in Scotland, to Intel’s Andy Grove and Google’s Sergey Brin, originally from Hungary and Russia, respectively. Indian immigrants comprise only about 1 percent of the US population but […]

Americas Entrepreneurship

Report

Mar 7, 2022

Quel avenir pour le Sahel?

By Richard Cincotta and Stephen Smith

Le Sahel est dans une impasse démographique. S’ils veulent sortir de l’impasse actuelle, les gouvernements sahéliens devront réorienter une partie importante de leurs efforts de développement et moyens financiers vers des politiques et programmes visant à améliorer la condition féminine : en prévenant les mariages et grossesses précoces chez les adolescentes, en promouvant l’éducation des filles et en garantissant la pleine participation des femmes dans tous les secteurs publics et privés, à commencer par les lieux de travail.

Africa Energy & Environment

Mathew Burrows, PhD served as the director of Foresight, Scowcroft Strategy Initiative and as the co-director of New American Engagement Initiative within the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and was one of the leading experts on strategic foresight and global trend analysis. In 2013 he retired from a 28-year long career in the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the last 10 years of which he spent at the National Intelligence Council (NIC), the premier analytic unit in the US Intelligence Community. In 2007, Burrows was appointed Counselor, the number three position in the NIC, and was the principal drafter for the NIC publication Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds, which received widespread recognition and praise in the international media. In 2005, he was asked to set up and direct the NIC’s new Long Range Analysis Unit, which is now known as the Strategic Futures Group.

Other positions included assignments as deputy national security advisor to Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill (2001-02), special assistant to the UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke (1999-2001), and first holder of the intelligence community fellowship at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York (1998-1999). Burrows received a BA in American and European history from Wesleyan University and a PhD in European history from the University of Cambridge.