Politics & Diplomacy

The New Middle East is dismissing great power competition—for now 

By Jean-Loup Samaan

The more local actors grow confident about their own autonomy, the less tempted they will be to align themselves on the agenda of another external power.

An allied strategy for China after the 20th Party Congress

By Matthew Kroenig, Jeffrey Cimmino, David O. Shullman, Colleen Cottle, Emma Verges

Chinese president Xi Jinping secured a third term in power as general secretary, and China is likely to continue along a more assertive course in global affairs. The United States and its allies need an updated strategy to navigate this period of relations with China.

Congressional oversight of intelligence for great-power competition

By Aidan Poling

Missed our October 4 event on intelligence committee and community reform? Then read the recap here.

How India’s new digital rules can demonstrate a commitment to good regulatory practices

By Mark Linscott

India has a chance to lay a path toward a free trade agreement with the United States if it handles sensitive digital rules the right way.

Ukraine has a Russia problem not a Putin problem

By Taras Kuzio

Ukraine appears poised to defeat Putin's invasion but Russia will continue to pose an existential threat to Ukrainian statehood until Russians learn to accept that Ukraine is a sovereign and independent nation.

Ex-empires Iran and Russia forge new bonds as both blame their woes on the West

By Barbara Slavin

From a societal level, Russia and Iran would seem to have little in common. However, the West, Russian and Iranian rulers jointly believe, want to overthrow their regimes, and don’t care if the alternative is chaos.

AC Selects: Addressing Jordan and Egypt’s economic challenges and China’s unprecedented third term presidency

Last week, Jordan’s Minister of Finance, Mohamad Al-Ississ and Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Hala H. Elsaid sat down with the EmpowerME initiative to discuss challenges and potential areas of growth for their economic and financial sectors. The GeoEconomics Center and Global China hub hosted two panels of experts to examine the 20th […]

The Freedom and Prosperity Indexes: How nations create prosperity that lasts

By Dan Negrea, Matthew Kroenig

The inaugural Freedom and Prosperity Indexes show that democracies do indeed deliver. It’s time to reset the terms of the debate by letting the data do the talking. And the indexes have a lot to tell us. They reveal the most effective ways for governments to invest in their most important resource: their people.

Experts react: Xi solidifies his power at China’s Communist Party Congress. What should the world take away?

By Atlantic Council experts

We asked our China watchers to explain how the world should read Xi Jinping's approach to the economy, Taiwan, and more.

Italy recently elected a far-right leader. Here’s how the Arab world reacted to the news.

By Karim Mezran, Nour Dabboussi

Giorgia Meloni’s government should carefully consider how it handles its nationalistic discourse to avoid any Islamophobic controversies that could ultimately spark a blowback of condemnations from its allies in the Arab world.