GeoStrategy Initiative Analysis and Events

Crafting Public Diplomacy for an Urbanized World

On March 20, the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, in partnership with the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, hosted a roundtable focusing on the future of public diplomacy in the context of global trends. Titled Crafting Public Diplomacy for an Urbanized World, the roundtable examined how the US government, through public […]

How to Save the Shale Revolution

By Robert A. Manning

Enlightened state regulators, a coalition of the willing, and continued improvements in technology together hold promise for elevating best practices around fracking to the status of new norms. “We’re in the first inning of a nine-inning game on the shale revolution in the United States,” Conoco CEO Ryan Lance recently boldly predicted. Given the dramatic impact […]

The Entrepreneurial State: Roles of Government, Research Institutions, and Private Sector in R&D Innovation

By Atlantic Council

On Thursday February 27, 2014 the Strategic Foresight Initiative in the Brent Scowcroft Center for International Security held the captivating event “The Entrepreneurial State.” Experts weighed in on the role governments, research institutions, and the private sector in supporting innovation and research and development in the sciences. Discussants advocated for greater collaboration and cooperation as […]

Addressing the Food, Water, and Energy Nexus

The relationship between food, water, and energy resources are shaping our world and its future, and managing the “nexus” of the interdependencies among these goods is arguably one of the most critical challenges facing policymakers in the transatlantic area. A draft report discussed at an Atlantic Council event today argues that Africa plays an especially […]

Urbanization in Latin America

By Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center

Cities are global leaders whose innovative policies are increasingly transcending boundaries to shape domestic and international trends. The relative power of cities to influence the global agenda will only increase in the coming decades. More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas; by 2050, 70 percent, or more than six billion people, […]

On the Road To Medellín: Urban Innovation at Home and Abroad

Cities are at the forefront of global leadership. Not only are cities where all global trends—such as increased diffusion of power, individual empowerment, and the complex interplay of the food-water-energy nexus—come together, but local governments and their partners are already addressing this century’s great global challenges and finding innovative solutions.

Megacity Slums and Urban Insecurity

By Peter Engelke and Magnus Nordenman

What is the most pressing security challenge facing the world’s megacities? It’s their slums, write Peter Engelke and Magnus Nordenman. Today, they highlight some of the conditions that make them fertile breeding grounds for conflict and instability.

US Intelligence Failure is Its Focus, Not Its Leaks

By Josh Kerbel

The US intelligence community largely has failed to adapt to the world’s growing complexity and interconnectedness, writes Josh Kerbel, the chief analytic methodologist at the US Defense Intelligence Agency. The intelligence community must leave behind its habit of analyzing complex issues with a narrow focus and instead ‘think big’, taking greater advantage of open-source, unclassified information and interdisciplinary perspectives.