Featured Publications
Kazakhstan and the United States: Twenty Years of Ambiguous Partnership
The Five Futures of Cyber Conflict and Cooperation
US Lessons for the Eurozone Restoring Confidence through Transparency
Prospects and Challenges for Increasing India-Pakistan Trade
A US-EU Action Plan for Supporting Democratization: Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia
Council News
Jonathan Paris Discusses Syrian Crisis with France 24
Jonathan Paris, nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center, appeared on France 24 to discuss Russia's support for the Assad regime and what it means for a possible UN resolution against Syria.
Damon Wilson US Senate Testimony: Ukraine at a Crossroads
On February 1, Atlantic Council executive vice president Damon Wilson testified at a hearing of the US Senate Committe on Foreign Relations on the topic: "Ukraine at a Crossroads: What's at Stake for the US and Europe?"
Michele Dunne on US-Egypt Relations for NPR's Morning Edition
Relations between the US and Egypt have taken a downturn since Egyptian authorities raided the offices of seventeen nongovernmental organizations in December - three of them US-funded. Michele Dunne, director of the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, spoke on NPR's Morning Edition about the situation and what it means for US aid to Egypt.
FEATURED ISSUE
The South Asia Center receives guidance and support from many experts throughout the world. Our senior fellows, guest-speakers, Center patrons, and visitors contribute heavily to the Center’s mission to “wage peace,” and engage the international community in the region. The Center asked our contributors the simple, but key question, “What you do expect in 2012?”
REGISTER
NATO Reform and Decision-Making
February 23, 2010
Edgar Buckley and Kurt Volker, members of the Strategic Advisors Group (SAG), outline four crucial areas of the NATO decision-making process that require immediate consideration for reform in the SAG issue brief "NATO Reform and Decision-Making."
How can an organization of 28 sovereign countries act together efficiently to agree policies, invest in common capabilities, manage crises and conduct military operations based on consensus? Obviously, not at all – unless it is founded on strong fundamental principles and shared values, agreed strategies and a tradition of mutual trust. That has always been the assumption underlying NATO’s constitutional approach.
But when the underlying consensus is placed under great strain, as was the case with the war in Iraq – and remains the case in dealing with Afghanistan and new threats and challenges – decision-making in NATO will inevitably become ensnarled, to the point of jeopardizing solidarity and in extreme cases calling into question the Alliance’s ability to act. “We have been holed above the water-line,” was how then-Secretary General Lord Robertson characterized the effect on the Alliance of the dispute in NATO in 2003 over the deployment of Patriot missiles to Turkey. Many thought that the damage could easily have been much more serious.The cause was not the decision-making process itself, but the breakdown in the underlying transatlantic strategic consensus. Get that right - and provide the necessary resources - and decisions should emerge reasonably quickly, even with the procedures and structures in NATO today.
Strategic Advisors Group:
To tackle the tough issues facing NATO and the transatlantic community, the Atlantic Council created the Strategic Advisors Group (SAG). Co-chaired by Atlantic Council Chairman Senator Chuck Hagel and Airbus CEO Tom Enders, the SAG is comprised of North American and European preeminent defense experts. Founded in 2007 by then-Atlantic Council Chairman General James L. Jones, General Brent Scowcroft, and former Norwegian Minister of Defense Kristin Krohn Devold, the SAG provides timely insights and analysis to policymakers and the public on strategic issues in the transatlantic security partnership through issuing policy briefs and reports, hosting strategy sessions for senior civilian and military officials, and providing informal expert advice to decision-makers.
NATO Issue Briefs:
- NATO Reform and Decision-Making
- Article 5 and Strategic Reassurance
- The U.S., NATO and the EU: Partnership in the Balance
- The Challenge: NATO Amidst Geopolitical Realities
- A New Transatlantic Compact for NATO
The SAG and its activities are generously sponsored by the Scowcroft Group, EADS North America, and Airbus.
FEATURED EVENTS
The Way Forward in Europe
On February 13, the Atlantic Council's Global Business and Economics Program will host Luc Frieden, finance minister of Luxembourg, and an influential member of the European Union’s Eurogroup and Economic and Financial Affairs Council.
Libya Revisited: Coalition Building and the Future of NATO Operations
Please join the Atlantic Council for a public address and conversation with General Charles Bouchard, commander of the NATO military mission in Libya.
Pivotal Partnerships: The Prospects for International Defense Cooperation in an Age of Austerity
On Wednesday, February 15, Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter will join the Atlantic Council for a public address and conversation on international defense cooperation.
Counter-Piracy Task Force: Strategic Approaches to the Piracy Challenge
On February 8, 2012, the International Security Program and the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a meeting of the Atlantic Council Maritime Piracy Task Force, chaired by Atlantic Council Board Director Franklin D. Miller. This is the third in a series of meetings looking into the challenge of piracy and possible strategic approaches.
Featured Video
FEATURED INTERVIEW
Is Nigeria at a Crossroad?
In this edition of the New Atlanticist Podcast, Atlantic Council senior fellow Sarwar Kashmeri speaks to Mr. Tutu Agyare, founder and managing partner of Nubuke Investments, one of Africas’s largest asset managers.
Most Popular EgyptSource Posts
