In-depth research and reports

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 […]

Bridging the Transatlantic Economy: TTIP in Historical Perspective

By Jordan Smith and Garrett Workman

Each year, the University of Virginia’s Miller Center hosts the Caplin Conference on the World Economy, which assembles scholars, experts, government officials, and leaders in business and finance to examine the impact of US economic policy at home and abroad. The 2013 Caplin Conference, held on December 2 at the National Press Club in Washington, […]

A Eurasian Energy Primer: The Transatlantic Perspective

By David Koranyi

The Atlantic Council at its annual Energy and Economic Summit in Istanbul (November 21-22, 2013) published a study book: ‘A Eurasian Energy Primer: The Transatlantic Perspective.’ Download PDF

Lessons from Somalia

By J. Peter Pham

State Collapse, Insurgency, and Counterinsurgency In a monograph just published by the US Army War College, Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham argues that, after years as the world’s prime example of a failed state—one that gave rise to catastrophic humanitarian crises, a wave of maritime piracy, and Islamist militancy, including an al-Qaeda-linked insurgency—Somalia appears […]

The security of cities: ecology and conflict on an urbanizing planet

By Peter Engelke

A new report issued jointly by the Atlantic Council and the Stimson Center, The Security of Cities: Ecology and Conflict on an Urbanizing Planet, argues that the environmental security field has yet to incorporate global urbanization, the twenty-first century’s central demographic trend, fully into its purview.

IntelBrief: Barclays and the Somali Remittances Crisis

By Amy Calfas

Bottom Line Up Front Since 2011, Somalia has struggled to maintain one of its most important revenue streams—remittances from Somalis in the diaspora—as one Western bank after another cuts financial ties with the country. Inadequate regulatory regimes have made money transfer organizations vulnerable to exploitation by terrorist groups, and financial institutions doing business with Somalia […]

Morocco’s Vital Role in Northwest Africa’s Security and Development

By J. Peter Pham

In the Africa Center’s most recent issue brief, “Morocco’s Vital Role in Northwest Africa’s Security and Development,” Director J. Peter Pham outlines the country’s increasing reengagement with Africa and its emergence as a key political, security, and economic actor integral to the continent’s future. He argues that Morocco’s willingness to shoulder the challenges in the […]

Global trends and the future of NATO: alliance security in an era of global competition

By Barry Pavel and Magnus Nordenman

The latest issue brief by Barry Pavel, Atlantic Council VP and director of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, and Magnus Nordenman, Brent Scowcroft Center deputy director, argues that global shifts in economic and military power, demographics, resource demand, and other critical megatrends will require NATO to overhaul its long-term strategy for the future. […]

IntelBrief: South African Peacekeeping – Punching Below Its Weight

By Bronwyn Bruton and Sam Fishman

Bottom Line Up Front South Africa, one Africa’s more successful democracies and its largest economy, has mostly resisted Western pressure to intervene in other nations’ conflicts President Zuma has shown some enthusiasm for foreign engagement, but has been stymied by the poor condition of South Africa’s undersized and under-resourced military, with limited capability to project […]

A Transatlantic Perspective on Natural Gas Security in Central and Southeastern Europe

By David Koranyi

The latest Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center issue brief, “A Transatlantic Perspective on Natural Gas Security in Central and Southeastern Europe,” by Deputy Director David Koranyi, argues that the fundamentals of the natural gas sectors of the United States and European Union (EU) are on divergent paths. Download PDF

IntelBrief: West African Piracy

By J. Peter Pham

Bottom Line Up Front Gulf of Guinea piracy remains a persistent, potential danger, with significance for commercial shipping and local economic development The lucrative take from theft of cargo, fuel oil, and crew and vessel ransom drive the motivation of the criminal networks Frequent, local ‘seaway robbery’ and sale of stolen crude on the oil […]

IntelBrief: Somalia – The Problem with Proxies

By Bronwyn Bruton

In the latest in the series of “IntelBriefs” on African security issues being produced by the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center in partnership with the Soufan Group, an international strategic consultancy, Africa Center Deputy Director Bronwyn Bruton argues that the US support of proxy forces in the conflict in Somalia has failed to achieve a number […]

Cross-border Electricity Exchanges: Bolstering Economic Growth in the South Caucasus and Turkey

By Nino Ghvinadze and Laura Linderman

The latest Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center issue brief, “Cross-border Electricity Exchanges: Bolstering Economic Growth in the South Caucasus and Turkey,” by Nino Ghvinadze and Laura Linderman, explores opportunities for expanding electricity trade in the South Caucasus and Turkey. This brief has been prepared in the context of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasian Energy Futures Initiative. Download PDF

IntelBrief: Al Shabab’s Split and the Qaeda Influence at the Westgate Mall

By Bronwyn Bruton and Sam Fishman

In the latest in the series of “IntelBriefs” on African security issues being produced by the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center in partnership with the Soufan Group, an international strategic consultancy, Africa Center Deputy Director Bronwyn Bruton and Program Assistant Sam Fishman argue that the recent attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya was made […]

US and EU: Lack of strategic vision, frustrated efforts toward the Arab transitions

By Danya Greenfield and Amy Hawthorne

A new Atlantic Council report, US and EU: Lack of Strategic Vision, Frustrated Efforts Toward the Arab Transitions, argues the United States and its European allies lack strategic vision in supporting the Arab countries that embarked in 2011 on a democratic path—Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Yemen—and have not lived up to their stated commitments for […]

TTIP and the Fifty States: Jobs and Growth from Coast to Coast

A groundbreaking new report from the Atlantic Council, the Bertelsmann Foundation, and the British Embassy in Washington, entitled TTIP and the Fifty States: Jobs and Growth from Coast to Coast, explores the impact of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on the economies of all fifty United States. In summer 2013, representatives of the […]