.think atlantic
By .think atlantic
We've seen new socio-economic and cultural fault lines emerge and redefine our political debates and new geopolitical phenomena that make our World more ascertain. On .think atlantic, International Republican Institute’s Thibault Muzergues tries to make sense of these momentous changes and their effect on European and Transatlantic politics with his guests from both sides of the Atlantic.
.think atlanticMar 17, 2021
THREATS: European Perspectives on a changing strategic environment
In this special episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by IRI's Transatlantic Strategy Division Senior Director Jan Surotchak and three authors of IRI’s latest publication “THREATS: European Perspectives on a changing strategic environment”. This publication gathers a collection of essays from a range of European experts and practitioners of geopolitics, and provides an overview of how diverse - and at the same time how convergent - security perceptions are in the Europe today.
And to discuss it, we have Theresa from Germany, Radu from Romania and Anna from Greece.
Theresa Carolina Winter is Policy advisor for security and defence politics at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom;
Ana Zahariadou is a defense and security affairs specialist and Deputy International Secretary of the Greek centre-right governing party New Democracy;
Radu Albu Comanescu is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of European Studies at the Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca;
And last but not least, our own Transatlantic Strategy Division Senior Director Jan Surotchak, who supported this project all along and who give us the US perspective on Transatlantic security.
What is the most important thing that Allies need to achieve at
the NATO Vilnius Summit? What is the German Zeitenwende and how the German security establishment has reacted to the Russian war in Ukraine? How does Romania perceive its place in the NATO alliance to be, and does its perception of threats differ radically from other actors? How does Greece view the current situation in the Black Sea, and does that affect the way it perceives its role in the Mediterranean? how the US views geopolitical threats and its strategic environment, in Europe and beyond?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this episode.
Do not forget to download IRI's publication " THREATS: European Perspectives on a changing strategic environment”.
Find Jan Surotchak on Twitter @jansurotchak
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(SPECIAL) Voices from Central and Eastern Europe
In this special episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by IRI's Transatlantic Security Initiative Program Director Andrea Keerbs and four participants of its latest edition to talk about “Voices from Central and Eastern Europe” - the TSI 2 publication that was just released this month. This paper gathers essays from participants of our TSI program. And to discuss it, we have Kamila and Adam from Slovakia, Artur from Hungary and Daniel from Poland.
When it comes to Andrea Keerbs, she has been at IRI for more than a decade now and has worked in our offices in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova before moving in Budapest, so needless to say she has extensive experience in talking democracy and security in Central and Eastern Europe.
What is the Transatlantic Security Initiative program? How the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia changed the program? How did participants from Central and Eastern Europe feel the TSI experience? Is 2022 NATO's strategic concept now fully taking into account CEE region's security needs? Are regional formats of cooperation a plus for CEE region? How to mitigate disinformation vulnerabilities?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this episode.
Do not forget to download IRI's publication "Voices from Central and Eastern Europe": Voices From Central and Eastern Europe | International Republican Institute (iri.org) Find Andrea Keerbs on Twitter @AndreaKeerbs
Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter @tmuzergues
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2022 in Retrospect with Dan Twining
In this special end of the year episode of .think Atlantic, our host Thibault Muzergues is joined by special guest, none other than IRI President Dr. Daniel Twining to review the transatlantic space’s most influential events of the year. Dr. Twining’s expertise regarding political parties, autocracies, and strategies as we enter the New Year will be the center of this episode’s discussion.
Dr. Daniel Twining joined the International Republican Institute as President in 2017, where he leads the Institute’s mission to advance democracy and freedom around the world. He heads IRI’s team of over 800 global experts to link citizens and governments, motivate people to engage in the political process, and guide politicians and government officials to be responsive to citizens.
Previously, Dr. Twining served as counselor to the president and director of the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund, as a member of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, as the foreign policy advisor to U.S. Senator John McCain, and as a staff member of the U.S. Trade Representative. He has been an associate of the National Intelligence Council, taught at Georgetown University, and served as a military instructor associated with the Naval Postgraduate School. He serves on the Bush Institute’s Human Freedom Advisory Council and the Wilson Center’s Asia Advisory Board. He has been a columnist for Foreign Policy and Nikkei and served as an advisor to six presidential campaigns. From 2004-7, he was the Fulbright/Oxford Scholar at Oxford University.
Find Dan on Twitter: @DCTwining
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Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Russian & Chinese Influence in Europe, with Giulia Pompili
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Giulia Pompili to talk about how both Russia and China work to increase their influence in European politics. The conversation focuses specifically on Italy.
Giulia is a well-known journalist at Il Foglio, where she covers Eastern Asia. She is also the author of the Katane newsletter, and we had her come last year to talk about her previous book, Sotto lo stesso Cielo. This time, however, she’s here to talk about her new book, which was co-written with Valerio Valentini and covers the topic of the day. It is in Italian and it is called Al cuore dell’Italia, whose full title translates as “To The Heart of Italy: How Russia and China are Trying To Conquer The Country”.
What happened in the spring of 2020 in Italy? Are there similarities in the ways the Chinese Communist Party and Putin’s regime have tried to capture Italian elites? Are there common features or motives that makes an individual pro-Russian or pro-Chinese? How Chinese and Russian institutions have attempted to influence and control the Italian press? What are the challenges ahead for the new Italian government?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this episode.
Find Giulia Pompili on Twitter @giuliapompili
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The Right with Matthew Continetti
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Matthew Continetti to talk about talk about the past, present and future of the American Right.
Matthew is a prominent journalist, analyst, author and intellectual historian of the American Right. Founder of The Washington Free Beacon, he used to act as its Editor-in-Chief while contributing regularly to various journals and outlets including National Review, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Matthew is also a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Matthew is the author of ‘The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism’.
What is the history of the American Right in the past 100 years? How the American Right went from marginality to mainstream after the Second World War? What is Reaganism? How to navigate between Neo-Conservatives and the Paleo-Conservatives? What is the legacy of Donald Trump in American Right?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this episode.
Find Matthew Continetti on Twitter @continetti
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Midterm Elections with Sean Tonner
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Sean Tonner to talk about the US mid-term elections, which are going to be held on Tuesday, November the 8th.
Sean currently works as Managing Partner at the Fulcrum Group, a strategic communication company based in Denver Colorado. Previously he worked in numerous campaigns, and was among other things deputy chief of staff of Colorado Governor Bill Owens in the late 1990s and Western US Campaign Director for George W. Bush’s campaign in 2000.
How do things look like for each party? Should we expect a Red wave this Tuesday night? What are the main messages on both sides? What races should we be watching? Do Europeans have reasons to be worried, in particular about America’s support to Ukraine?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this episode.
Find Sean Tonner on Twitter @GOPCO
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Germany at the Crossroads
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Dr. Markus Kerber to talk about Germany, its economy and its place in Europe and in the World as Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on.
Dr. Kerber is currently the Chief Strategic Advisor to Friedrich Merz, the party leader of the German Christian Democratic Union or CDU. He served between 2017 and 2021 as State Secretary at the Internal Ministry of the Interior and Community in the German government, after a six-years tenure as CEO of the Federation of German Industries.
How is the German economy doing? What direction German economic policies are heading to? Is there questioning of German leadership in Europe? Has the perception of Russia and China changed? How to improve bilateral relation with the US?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this episode.
Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter @tmuzergues
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Nuclear Deterrence with Bruno Tertrais
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Bruno Tertrais to talk about nuclear deterrence.
Bruno Tertrais is deputy director of the Foundation for Strategic Research - or FRS, a French think-tank. His areas of expertise include geopolitics and international relations with a specific focus on strategic and military affairs, and for what is of particular concern to us today, nuclear deterrence and non-proliferation. He is a Senior Fellow at Institute Montaigne as well as a scientific adviser to the French Government’s High Commissioner for Planning. Finally, he is the author of numerous books and articles on the nuclear weapon, including this spring “Principles of Nuclear Deterrence and Strategy”, a paper for the NATO Defense college, and even more recently another paper on the future of nuclear deterrence which was published by our partners Fondapol a couple of weeks ago.
What is the concept of nuclear deterrence? Can we talk about nuclear blackmail? What are the “odds” for a nuclear strike from Russia in Ukraine? Are we living a new 1962 Cuba missile crisis again? Is there any way out of this war that avoids the use of nuclear weapons?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this episode.
Find Bruno Tertrais on Twitter @BrunoTertrais
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The Politics of Diversity with Saqib Bhatti
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Saqib Bhatti to talk about the politics of diversity.
Saqib Bhatti is the Conservative MP for Meriden, and has been an MP continuously since 12 December 2019.
What does the UK and the Conservative study case show us about the politics of minority? Why is it that minority voters no longer go only to the left? Why are minority voters attracted by Conservative parties around the transatlantic space? Is there any point at which the promotion of diversity becomes a problem?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this episode.
Find Saqib Bhatti on Twitter @bhatti_saqib
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Election Time in Bosnia and Herzegovina
In this special pre-election episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by two in-house Bosnia experts, IRI Deputy Program Director Amila Karacic and Resident Program Director Borislav Spasojevic to discuss the political landscape of the country and how upcoming elections can affect the region after October 2.
Amila has served IRI since 2011, holding residence in Sarajevo. Her wide range of focus includes political party work, women’s empowerment programs, examining malign foreign influence as well as reconciliation programs and cross community engagement in Bosnia. Borislav has been with IRI since 2005 and is based in Sarajevo. and has played an essential role in the development and implementation of IRI’s Political Party Assistance program in BiH, which resulted in the formation of the Women’s Caucus in the House of Representatives of the Federation Parliament.
What is the political system in Bosnia, and what makes it more complicated than other countries? What are the pressing issues of each campaign? Are there any issues that cross ethnic borders? Where do the parties stand regarding the possible reformation of the electoral system? To what extent is Russia involved in the destabilization of Bosnia and the region, and what can be done to counter these efforts? Listen for answers to these questions and more in this special pre-election episode.
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Political Disruption with Laure Mandeville
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by French journalist Laure Mandeville.
Laure Mandeville is reporter for the newspaper Le Figaro where she follows international politics – among her many fascinating postings, she was Le Figaro’s correspondent in the United States in the 2010s. She also published this year a new book called Les Révoltés d’Occident, the West’s rebels, which takes a wide look at the phenomenon of political disruption across the Transatlantic space.
What are the recurrent themes and policies that feed populism? What are the issues that make people follow the populists? What makes the difference between the successful and the unsuccessful disruptors? How to approach left-wing disruption? Why is it that disruptors are fascinated with Putin, and what are Putin’s motives for supporting them?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this episode.
Find Laure Mandeville on Twitter @lauremandeville
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Swedish Elections with Arvid Hallén
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Arvid Hallén, Program Director at Oikos, a Swedish conservative think tank, to discuss the forthcoming elections in Sweden.
Arvid Hallén is an expert on geopolitics with a specialization on energy policy. He has previously worked as editorial writer, consultant and analyst and is still a regular political commentator in Swedish media. Arvid defines himself as a conservative Keynesian, an Atlanticist and a fan of the idea of a property-owning democracy.
Is Sweden a 'socialist paradise'? How to explain the rise of opposition parties in the past few weeks? Are Sweden Democrats ready to enter a governing coalition? Will Sweden continue to be a frugal state at the EU level? Which are the repercussions of upcoming accession to NATO for Sweden and the Baltic Sea region?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this episode.
Find Arvid Hallén on Twitter @hallen_a
Find Oikos on Twitter @Oikos_org
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In Defense of Globalism, with Dalibor Rohac
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Dalibor Rohac, a resident scholar at the American Enterprises Institute, to discuss the ramifications of globalism and its intersections with nationalism.
Dalibor Rohac is senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he studies European political and economic trends, US-EU relations, and the post-Communist transitions and backsliding of countries in the former Soviet bloc. In addition, he is also a research associate at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies in Brussels and a fellow at the Anglo-American University in Prague.
How can we view globalism today? How have recent events impacted globalization and its role? What are the effects of nationalism on globalism and how can the two function concurrently?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this episode.
Find Dalibor Rohac on Twitter @DaliborRohac
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Mafia(s) with Sergio Nazzaro
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Sergio Nazzaro to talk about an institution that has a very real impact on Italian life: the Mafia.
Sergio is an Italian investigative journalist who focuses on organized crime: He also has written books on both the Italian and African mafias including "Fort Alamo: Nigerian Crime and Human Trafficking". In addition to writing, he is currently Spokesman for the President of the Anti-Mafia parliamentary commission and the Spokesman for Italy's Deputy Minister of the Interior.
What is the Mafia? How has it emerged? How did it become and international and transnational entity? Is organized crime a growing phenomenon in the world? What could be our strategies to put mafia(s) on the backburner?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in our special anniversary episode looking back at two pivotal times in transatlantic history .
Find Jan Surotchak on Twitter @sergio_nazzaro
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Marshall and Reagan revisited, with Jan Surotchak
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by IRI’s Senior Director for Transatlantic Strategy, Jan Surotchak, to reflect on the anniversaries of two historic speeches: the 75th anniversary of the Marshall Plan Speech and the 40th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s Westminster Speech.
Jan Surotchak began his career with IRI in 1994. As Senior Director, he focuses on key threats to the alliance of democratic societies in the Transatlantic space. Jan has extensive experience working in election observation missions world-wide, and even served for five terms as city counselor for his native Penn Argyll in Pennsylvania.
What parallels can be drawn from the legacies of both speeches? How are the concepts presented in the Marshall Plan applicable to Ukraine? How can the international community foster democracy in the 21st century?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in our special anniversary episode looking back at two pivotal times in transatlantic history .
Find Jan Surotchak on Twitter @jansurotchak
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Energy Security with Velina Tchakarova, Arvid Hallén and Philippe Charlez
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Velina Tchakarova, Arvid Hallén and Philippe Charlez to talk about energy security over the transatlantic space.
To delve into these topics, Thibault has a range of experts in this space on the show today. Velina Tchakarova is Director of the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy in Vienna. Arvid Hallén is Program Director at Oikos, a Swedish conservative think tank. And Philippe Charlew is an energy expert from the Sapiens Institute.
How are Austria, Sweden and France coping with the reducing of dependency on Russian gas? Is Energy independence possible for Europe? How to conciliqte energy security and environmental transition?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this Transatlantic Energy Roundtable themed episode.
Find Velina Tchakarova on Twitter @vtchakarova
Find Arvid Hallén on Twitter @hallen_a
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The Neocons: Past, Present and Future
In this episode of .think atlantic, Thibault Muzergues returns as host to talk to Jacob Heilbrunn about the past, present and future of Neoconservatism.
Jacob Heilbrunn is the editor of the National Interest, and he has written extensively on foreign and domestic issues for most if not all major American news outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Affairs. His 2008 book "The Knew They Were Right" tells the story of origins and rise of neoconservatism in American politics. He is here to join us today to speak about his most recent article in Politico magazine ''Trumpian Conservatives Hold an ‘Emergency’ Meeting Over Russia'', which you can read here.
Is neoconservatism getting back to center stage? Where did it come from, and when did it rise and fall from popularity in American foreign policy? How do neocon ideas help explain or understand the crisis in Ukraine?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this special episode. And keep in mind, the opinions expressed by Jacob, as well as all guests of .think atlantic are their own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of IRI.
Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter @tmuzergues
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War in Europe? With Thibault Muzergues
In this episode of .think atlantic, International Republican Institute’s President Dan Twining is joined by Thibault Muzergues to talk about his latest book War in Europe? (available here)
Thibault Muzergues is a Resident Program Director for the IRI's Transatlantic Strategy Division, based in Rome, Italy. In this capacity of Europe and EuroMed programming, he applies more than 20 years of experience working with political parties to preserve and promote democracy around the continent. He is the author of two books, most recently War in Europe? From Impossible War to Improbable Peace, and regularly contributes to French, English and Spanish-language media. Most importantly, he has been hosting .think atlantic for three seasons and counting!
What was Thibault's motivation to write this book on war? Has peace in Europe always been more myth than reality? How to assess NATO's role over the past decades on the European continent? While Russia has waged a full-scale war on Ukraine, should we expect other tensions and conflicts to happen? What should be done over the Transatlantic space to face successfully current geopolitical threats?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this special episode.
Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter @tmuzergues
Find Dan Twining on Twitter @DCTwining
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Pardon our French: French Foreign Policy with Isabelle Lasserre
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Isabelle Lasserre to talk about French foreign policy.
Isabelle Lasserre is a journalist and the deputy editor of Le Figaro’s international coverage. A former war reporter, she was awarded the Diplomatic Press Prize in 1999 for her reporting on conflict in Kosovo and the Caucasus. Her latest book, Macron the Disruptor: The Foreign Policy of an Antisystem President, was published in January 2022.
How does the French foreign policy establishment view the world? What are France’s international interests? In what areas of French foreign policy has Macron been the most disruptive? What has Macron tried to achieve with Russia? Has Macron’s attempt to center France in European policy succeeded? Has French foreign policy failed in Eastern Mediterranean and in Africa? What opportunities does France have to change the dynamics in those regions? What is the future of Franco-American relations? Find answers to these questions and more as France decides its presidential election.
Find Isabelle Lassere on Twitter @ilasserre
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French Presidential Election with Bruno Jeanbart
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Bruno Jeanbart to talk about upcoming French Presidential election (April 10-24).
Bruno is Vice-President in charge of political research at OpinionWay, where ha has led the development of online polling - something on which OpinionWay is a pioneer company in Europe. He also wrote 5 years ago a great book, 'La Présidence Anormale', which looked back at the Presidency of François Hollande through the prism of public opinion.
How to explain a new Macron-Le Pen duel? Why so much support for disruptors in French society? How to explain Macron's failure to build a stable political party over the past 5 years? Did the Russian war in Ukraine change the campaign? How to explain love-hate relationship of French with polls?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this special timely episode.
Find Bruno Jeanbart on Twitter @bjeanbart
Find OpinionWay on Twitter @opinionway and at www.opinion-way.com
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What future for the Mediterranean? with Fabrizio Luciolli, Pascal Ausseur, Balkan Devlen and Olfa Hamdi
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Fabrizio Luciolli, Pascal Ausseur, Balkan Devlen and Olfa Hamdi to talk about the past, present and future of the Mediterranean space. As the Latin origins of the name suggest, the ''Sea between lands'' has seen hundreds of years of changes, developments, and plays a critical role in the security of Europe as we know it today. To delve into these topics, Thibault has a range of experts in this space on the show today. Pascal Ausseur is a retired admiral from the French Navy and the current General Director of the Mediterranean Foundation of Strategic Studies (FMES). Fabrizio Luciolli is the President of the Italian Atlantic Committee. Balkan Devlen is a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and Olfa Hamdi is an entrepreneur and founder of the Movement for the Third Republic in Tunisia.
What can the transatlantic allies do to promote stability in the Mediterranean? What is the concept of enlarged Mediterranean? Should we brace ourselves for more tensions or on the contrary should we expect more cooperation between the allies in the field of Energy? What can the West do to regulate migration flows?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this Med Atlantic themed episode.
Find Fabrizio Luciolli on Twitter @FWLuciolli
Find Balkan Devlen on Twitter @BalkanDevlen
Find Admiral Pascal Ausseur's FMES on Twitter @InstitutFMES
Find Olfa Hamdi on Twitter @OlfaHaamdi
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Ukraine: News from the Frontline
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Solomiia Bobrovska and Maria Tomak to talk about war of aggression that Vladimir Putin is waging in Ukraine.
Solomiia is a Ukrainian Member of Parliament, Deputy Head of Ukraine's Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and former Governor of Odessa region. Maria is a Ukrainian human right activist, journalist, co-ordinator and co-founder of the Media Initiative for Human Rights. She has been appointed by Volodymyr Zelensky as Head for the National Office of the Crimea Platform Department
What is the situation and the morale on the ground? Is it an all-out attack on Ukraine or rather an extremely violent episode of a longer and larger aggression by Russia? Is the continuation of the Parliament's work a testimony of Ukraine's democratic resilience? What Ukraine does need from the West? What answer to people from the West who ask to stay as far from the war as possible?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this special timely episode.
Find Solomiia Bobrovska on Twitter @Bobrovska_MP
Find Maria Tomak on Twitter @MariaTomak
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Hawks over Central Europe
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Jiri Kozak and Mantas Adomėnas -- Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs in the Czech Republic and Lithuania, respectively -- to talk about foreign policy changes in Central and Eastern Europe, including the region’s response to Russia’s undergoing invasion of Ukraine.
What has changed in Czech and Lithuanian foreign policy since their new governments took office, and why? What relation does contemporary conservative foreign policy have to neoconservatism? What role can Central and Eastern European countries play in countering Russian aggression? How has Lithuania fared against Chinese economic coercion and what lessons can other CEE countries take from the experience?
Listen for answers to these questions and more in this special timely episode. While you're here, remember to check out IRI’s recent report on candidate selection called “Standing Out from the Crowd,” including a chapter written by Adomėnas, on iri.org.
Find Jiri Kozak on Twitter @Kozakj
Find Mantas Adomėnas on Twitter @Adomenas
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Standing Out From the Crowd
In this episode of .think atlantic, guest host Breanna Kerr is joined by Rebecca Pitsika, Dr. Benjamin Höhne, Thibault Muzergues, and Daniel Scaduto is discuss the findings and main themes from IRI’s newly released publication, “Standing Out from the Crowd: Political Parties’ Candidate (S)election in the Transatlantic World.”
To describe and compare candidate (s)election approaches from both sides of the Atlantic, the publication presents case studies from 12 different countries, as well as a standalone summary chapter. Four of the publication's authors are interviewed in this episode to discuss their findings with Breanna. The first guest is Rebecca Pitsika, author of the case study on Greece, and CEO of People for Business. Rebecca has managed talent acquisitions for Greece’s New Democracy political party since 2016. The second guests is Dr. Benjamin Höhne, Deputy Director of the Institute for Parliamentary Research in Berlin and author of the Germany chapter. Thibault Muzergues, IRI’s Europe and Europe-Mediterranean Program Director authored the case study on France. And finally, IRI Senior Program Associate Daniel Scaduto authored the case study on candidate selection in the US.
Which method of candidate (s)election is best for the U.S.? What about in France, Germany, Greece? Can a political party mix selection methods, and what on earth is the technocratic style? Find out the answers to these questions and more when you listen to our episode. And while you're here, read the full publication here.
Find Benjamin Höhne on Twitter @BenHoeh
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Freedoms at Risk with Katie Hamilton
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Katie Hamilton to talk about “Freedoms at Risk: The Challenge of the Century”, a publication by the Fondation pour l’Innovation Politique - or Fondapol - which was released only a couple of weeks ago, with the support and participation of IRI, among others.
Katie Hamilton was very involved in the making of the survey and in the writing of this publication. She has been a Project Manager in Fondapol for the past four years being involved in each edition of Fondapol's global surveys on democracy. Katie is a graduate from Skidmore College in New York and she speaks both French and English.
Why taking such a titanic task to study public opinion in so many countries? What are the main evolutions between 2019 and 2022 surveys on democracy? What remains the same? What are the main internal and external threats for democracies today? Are people still attached to democratic ideals? How to explain EU's rise of popularity and should we expect it to continue in the long-term? Thibault and his guest discuss these questions – and much more.
Find Fondapol on Twitter: @fondapol
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzegues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org and read our latest publication "Freedoms at Risk: The Challenge of the Century".
Italy's Renaissance with Giulio Terzi
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Giulio Terzi, an Italian former diplomat, to discuss Italy's revival in foreign policy as a Presidential election is taking place on the very day of publication for this episode, that is Monday January 24.
Giulio Terzi was between 2011 and 2013 Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy; prior to that, his distinguished career as a diplomat led him, among many other other important posts, to be Italy’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and he was also Italy’s Ambassador to the United States and to Israel. He remains extremely active in Italian politics and civil society today, and heads the Global Committee for the Rule of Law Marco Pannella.
Is this presidential election going to have consequences on Italy’s domestic and international politics? How to explain Italy's sudden come-back at the centre-stage? Why some “soft spots” for dictators in some circles of the centre-left and center-right? What is Italy's place in a post-Brexit European balance? What can be done to re-build a viable security architecture in the Mediterranean? Thibault and his guest discuss these questions – and much more.
Find Giulio Terzi on Twitter: @GiulioTerzi
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzegues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org and read our latest publication "Freedoms at Risk: The Challenge of the Century".
Back From the USSR with Sam Greene
In this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by special guest Samuel Greene to discuss about the post-Soviet space, 30 years after the collapse of the USSR.
Sam is Professor in Russian politics and Director of the Russia Institute at King’s College London. He lived for more than a decade in Moscow where he worked as Director of the Centre for the Study of New Media & Society at the New Economic School and was also Deputy-Director of the Carnegie Moscow Center. He is also the author of numerous academic articles, op-eds and books on Russia and the post-Soviet space, his latest, co-authored with Graeme Robertson was published in 2019 and is called Putin v the People: The perilous Politics of a Divided Russia.
How Putin's Russia is dealing with its Soviet past? Is Vladimir Putin’s dream to revive some sort of Soviet Union? Is the concept of post-Soviet still relevant today? Why is Russia being so disruptive in its neighbourhood? Are Russians getting tired of Putin and his reckless geopolitical ambitions? Thibault and his guest discuss all these questions and contemplate what they mean for the larger transatlantic space – and much more.
Find David on Twitter: @samagreene
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
2021 in Retrospect with Dan Twining
In this special end of the year episode of .think Atlantic, our host Thibault Muzergues is joined by special guest, none other than IRI President Dr. Daniel Twining to review the transatlantic space’s most influential events of the year. Dr. Twining’s expertise regarding political parties, autocracies, and strategies as we enter the New Year will be the center of this episode’s discussion.
Dr. Daniel Twining joined the International Republican Institute as President in 2017, where he leads the Institute’s mission to advance democracy and freedom around the world. He heads IRI’s team of over 800 global experts to link citizens and governments, motivate people to engage in the political process, and guide politicians and government officials to be responsive to citizens.
Previously, Dr. Twining served as counselor to the president and director of the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund, as a member of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, as the foreign policy advisor to U.S. Senator John McCain, and as a staff member of the U.S. Trade Representative. He has been an associate of the National Intelligence Council, taught at Georgetown University, and served as a military instructor associated with the Naval Postgraduate School. He serves on the Bush Institute’s Human Freedom Advisory Council and the Wilson Center’s Asia Advisory Board. He has been a columnist for Foreign Policy and Nikkei and served as an advisor to six presidential campaigns. From 2004-7, he was the Fulbright/Oxford Scholar at Oxford University.
Find Dan on Twitter: @DCTwining and read his most recent article here: America must double down on democracy | TheHill.
Find IRI on Twitter: @IRIglobal
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Europe and China with Nusrat Ghani, Paweł Kowal and Antoine Bondaz
In this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined, live from Rome where IRI was holding a Parliamentary Roundtable on relations between Europe and China, by an all-star cast of guests - namely Nusrat Ghani, Paweł Kowal, and Antoine Bondaz.
Nusrat Ghani is a British Member of Parliament, representing the constituency of Wealden in Essex; she is a Member of the UK delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and Member and Rapporteur of its Science and Technology committee.
Paweł Kowal, is a Polish politician, political scientist, and historian. Currently a professor at the Polish Academy of Science and member of the Polish Parliament, he was a secretary of state in Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006-2007), a member of the National Security Council and he served as a Member of the European Parliament between 2009 and 2014.
Last but not least, Antoine Bondaz is Research Fellow and the Director of both the Korea Program and the Taiwan Program at the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique (FRS) in Paris, France. He is also Associate Professor at Sciences Po Paris.
How the relations between Europe and China have evolved in the past decade? How successful has the Chinese Communist Party been in buying itself influence in Europe? Have we managed to build any resilience against this? Can the West get its act together, co-ordinate to contain China?
Find Nusrat Ghani on Twitter: @Nus_Ghani
Find Paweł Kowal on Twitter: @pawelkowalp
Find Antoine Bondaz on Twitter: @antoinebondaz
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Europe’s Path Back from The Fringe with Justin Gest
In this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by special guest Justin Gest to discuss “Europe’s Path Back from the Fringe” written by Gest and co-authored by Jeremy Ferwerda and Tyler Reny. This publication, published on November 17, 2021, evaluates the motivations and future of fringe political parties across the transatlantic space. The findings of this report guide the discussion of this week's episode.
Justin Gest is an Associate Professor of Policy and Government at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government. His teaching and research interests include comparative politics, immigration, and demographic change. His research has been published in numerous well-respected journals. Dr. Gest has also provided commentary, analysis, or reporting to several broadcast networks including ABC, BBC, CBC, CNN, and NPR, and news publications including The Atlantic, The Guardian, The New York Times, POLITICO, Reuters, The Washington Post, and many more.
Find Justin on Twitter: @_JustinGest
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
See the publication on IRI's website at: IRI and Partners Release New Study on Triggers to Fringe Party Voting in Europe | IRI
The Future of NATO with Mircea Geoană
In this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by special guest Mircea Geoană to discuss the future of NATO
Mircea has been the Deputy Secretary General of NATO since 2019. He joined NATO after a remarkable career as politician and statesman in Romania – among many other things, he was President of the Social Democratic Party from 2005 to 2010, an influential Senator and President of the Senate from 2008 to 2011, presidential candidate in 2009, and also, importantly, minister of foreign affairs from 2000 to 2004, a time in which he presided over Romania’s entry into NATO
Should we be pessimist about NATO? Is NATO a global or a regional alliance? Should we expect new allies within the Alliance by 2030? How NATO, a defense alliance by nature, is adapting to new threats such as cyberthreats? Thibault and his guest discuss all these questions and contemplate what they mean for the larger transatlantic space – and much more.
Find Mircea on Twitter: @Mircea_Geoana
Find NATO on Twitter: @NATO
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Bobo Blues with David Brooks
In this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by special guest David Brooks to discuss the Bobos, or the Bohemian Bourgeoisie.
David has been an Op-ed Columnist for the New York Times since 2003. He is the author of several books, including a No. 1 New York Times Bestseller “The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement.” This episode will focus on “Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There” which discusses the concept of the Bobo, and how they have changed since coining this term back in 2000. His expertise on cultural shifts and political trends directs this episode.
What is a Bobo, and how did they get there? Have the Bobo’s achieved their paradise, and what does this mean for people around the world? As the movement becomes more mainstream, has it maintained its creativity and purpose? What type of backlash has the movement created? Thibault and his guest discuss all these questions and contemplate what they mean for the larger transatlantic space – and much more.
Find David on Twitter: @nytdavidbrooks
Find The New York Times on Twitter: @nytimes
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Czechs & Balances with Jiří Pehe
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Jiří Pehe to discuss the Czech general elections which will be held on October 8th and 9th.
Jiří Pehe is Director of New York University in Prague, and head of NYU’s Prague Institute for Democracy. He arrived in the US as a political refugee in the early 1980s, and graduated from Columbia University in 1985. He worked at Freedom House and then became Director of Central European Research at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Returning to Prague, he joined Václav Havel’s Cabinet as Director of the Political Department and later served as his personal advisor. Jiří is also the author of hundreds of analytical studies as well as several books on developments in Central and Eastern Europe, focusing especially on transitions to democracy.
Are these elections a referendum on Prime Minister Andrej Babiš? How to explain the fall of Pirates/Mayors coalition? What kind of coalitions are expected after the elections? What is the position of Czech Republic regarding the EU at the moment? What about its foreign policy made of different voices? Thibault and his guest discuss all these questions – and much more.
Find Jiří on Twitter: @JiriPehe
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
German Elections: Money Time with Jana Puglierin
In this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by special guest Jana Puglierin to discuss the German elections, which will take place Sunday, September 26.
Jana is Senior Policy Fellow and the head of the Berlin office of European Council on Foreign Relations. She directs the Re:shape Global Europe project, developing strategies for Europeans to engage with changes in the international order. Previously, she headed the Alfred von Oppenheim Center for European Policy Studies at the German Council on Foreign Relations. Her expertise on German and European policy directs the episode’s discussion.
Is there a more substantial crisis around the corner for Germany’s Christian Democrats? Is it the end of the Volkspartei culture, and what does that mean for the German political system’s stability? What kind of power vacuum will Angela Merkel’s absence leave, and what will her lasting legacy be? Thibault and his guest discuss all these questions and contemplate what they mean for the larger transatlantic space – and much more.
Find Jana on Twitter: @jana_puglierin
Find ECFR Berlin on Twitter: @ECFRBerlin
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
9/11, 20 Years On with Marc Hecker
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Marc Hecker to discuss the 20thanniversary of 9/11 and the War on Terrorism.
Marc Hecker is the Director of Research and Development at IFRI – the French Institute of International Relations – and Editor-in-Chief of the French academic journal Politique étrangère. He taught at Sciences Po for several years on terrorism and asymmetric wars and is the author of the recently published book La Guerre de 20 ans: Djihadisme et contre-terrorisme au XXIe siècle. His expertise on terrorism, the “Twenry Years War”, and international affairs directs the episode’s discussion.
Has there been any success in counterterrorism, now that the Taliban has control of Afghanistan? Will there ever be an end to jihadists’ power? Did Western allies miss counterterrorism opportunities during the Arab Spring? Have drones redefined modern warfare? Are there similar terrorism threats outside of the Middle East theatre? Is the transatlantic relationship a collateral victim to the war on terror? Thibault and his guest discuss all these questions – and much more.
Find Marc on Twitter: @M_Hecker
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Further reading:
Marc’s book, La Guerre de 20 ans: Djihadisme et contre-terrorisme au XXIe siècle: https://www.amazon.com/Guerre-vingt-ans-Djihadisme-contre-terrorisme/dp/2221250974
The Euro-Med: Sea, Sun, and Liberalism
Adrian Vazquez Lazara sits on the Renew Europe parliamentary group, where he is also the Chairman of Legal Affairs. Prior to his election to European Parliament in 2020, Adrian was an international officer for the Ciudadanos party and had an extensive background working in both public and private affairs.
Are there structural problems in Southern Europe? What are solutions to the economic difficulties the Euro-Med is facing? Is a recovery fund an adequate solution or are more changes required? How can the Euro-Med deal with the migration crisis? Is there a future of liberalism in Southern Europe? Thibault and his guest discuss these questions – and much more.
Find Adrian on Twitter: @AdrianVL1982
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzegues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Moldovan Elections with Nicu Popescu
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Nicu Popescu, a Moldovan diplomat, to discuss the elections and state of politics in Moldova.
Nicu Popescu is currently the director of Wider Europe at the European Council on Foreign Relations, focusing on EU relations with Russia and the Eastern Partnership countries. He has experience in international affairs, holding roles at the EU Institute for Security Studies, the European Council on Foreign Relations, and as a foreign policy advisor to the prime minister of Moldova. His experience, as well as his soon-to-be-published book, Russia Rising, directs the episode’s discussion.
What is the current state of Moldovan politics and how will the upcoming election change it? How will Moldova’s next government address issues of corruption and emigration? What is Moldova’s role in international politics? How does Moldova navigate its relationship between the East and the West? What is the future of Moldovan-Romanian relations? Thibault and his guest discuss these questions – and much more.
Find Nicu on Twitter: @nicupopescu
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzegues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Further reading: https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/russia-rising-9780755636655/
Entrepreneurial Parties with Vít Hloušek
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Vít Hloušek, a contemporary European history and politics professor in the Czech Republic to discuss the rise of entrepreneurial parties and their influence on European politics.
Vít Hloušek is head of the Department of the International Institute of Political Science at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. He specializes in comparative political science research and has authored numerous publications, including The Rise of Entrepreneurial Parties in European Politics. His expertise on entrepreneurial politics directs the episode’s discussion on the new phenomenon in politics and the intersection of business and political ideologies.
What are entrepreneurial parties and where are they emerging from? What qualities do political entrepreneurs have that differ them from traditional party leaders? Are there any benefits to evolving politics to be more business-like? Are entrepreneurial parties only a product of right-wing politics? Does the rise of entrepreneurial parties indicate something more sinister about the rise of personal charisma as a definer of electoral politics? Thibault and his guest discuss these questions – and much more.
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzegues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Further reading: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030419158
Forming a Unified Response on China, with Giulia Pompili and Mantas Adomenas
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Mantas Adomenas and Giulia Pompili to discuss Europe’s relationship with the People’s Republic of China.
As China’s presence grows in Europe through the Belt and Road Initiative and the 16+1 agreement, European leaders are beginning to consider future cooperation between Europe and China. What are China’s true intentions in Europe? What strategies can and should European countries use in finding an alternative to Chinese investments? How can Europeans work with Asian markets while avoiding dependency on China? Can the EU remain a neutral spectator if there were to be tensions between the US and China? Thibault and his guests discuss all these questions - and much more.
Mantas is Lithuania’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Member of Seimas from 2008 to 2020 and Giulia is the East Asia correspondent for the Italian daily newspaper Il Foglio and author of Sotto lo stesso cielo. Mantas’ experience in international politics accompanied by Giulia’s expertise result in an intriguing conversation led by Thibault regarding China’s influence in Europe and broader geopolitics.
Find Mantas Adomenas on Twitter @adomenas
Find Giulia Pompili on Twitter @giuliapompili
Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter @tmuzergues
Further reading:
Sotto lo stesso cielo by Giulia Pompili - Available at: https://www.librimondadori.it/libri/sotto-lo-stesso-cielo-giulia-pompili/
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
1969, with Brice Couturier
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Brice Couturier, a leading French intellectual and author to discuss his book “1969” and the cultural and intellectual impact that the late sixties had on Western culture.
Brice Couturier is a French journalist working at France Culture, producing the daily show “Le Tour du Monde des Idées,” one of the inspirations for .think atlantic. Additionally, Brice is the author of several books, including a biography of Emmanuel Macron and “1969, année fatidique,” which directs the episode’s discussion on the cultural and political impact that the late-1960s had on Western society through the end of the 20th century up to today.
Brice shares his reasoning behind focusing research on 1969, why it is such a pivotal year for Western culture and the year’s impact on culture and intellectualism. What major political and cultural events occurred in 1969 that influenced the future of Western society? What role did cultural emancipation and social liberalism have with the late sixties? How did the late sixties create a dominating cultural domain for decades to come? How has the “spirit of the late sixties” evolved into contemporary “woke” culture and generational conflict? What parallels can be made between the 1960s and 2010s? Thibault and his guest discuss these questions – and much more.
Find Brice on Twitter: @briceculturier
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org Further reading: https://www.amazon.com/1969-ann%C3%A9e-fatidique/dp/B07D57DM89
The Future of Conservatism, with Stephen Harper
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by former Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, to discuss the future of conservatism in political and socioeconomic institutions.
Stephen Harper served as the prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015 as the country’s first and only prime minister from the Conservative Party of Canada. His book, “Right Here, Right Now: Politics and Leadership in the Age of Disruption,” published in 2018, directs the episode’s discussion on political disruption and how conservatism can be used as a solution for uncertainty and risk-mitigation in business and government.
Stephen shares his experience as the head of Canada’s government, including during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, and his thoughts on populism and conservatism to analyze how western democracies are evolving in the face of political division and disruption. What needs to be changed in conservative politics? How should modern conservatism define trade and market policies? How should conservatism be evolved to help the broadening working and middle-class population? How does conservatism compare to populism and what is populist conservatism? How and where can we draw the line between positive, patriotism and ethnic nationalism? Thibault and his guest discuss these questions – and much more.
Find Stephen on Twitter: @stephenharper
Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Further reading:
Right Here, Right Now: Politics and Leadership in the Age of Disruption (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/565219/right-here-right-now-by-stephen-j-harper/)
The future of the West, with Michael Kimmage
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI's Thibault Muzergues is joined by Michael C. Kimmage to explore “the West” as a concept in International Relations, and more particularly in US foreign policy.
Michael is a professor of history at the Catholic University of America. From 2014 to 2017, he served on the Secretary's Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State, where he held the Russia/Ukraine portfolio. Michael is also an author, “The Abandonment of the West: The History of an Idea in American Foreign Policy” is his third book, it was published in April 2020 and it is the center of the discussion.
How can we define the West, and where does the concept come from, at least from an American perspective? The idea of the West now seems to be challenged from the outside, from the inside, and even from some actors who recently joined in, how to analyze this? Does it mean that the East that was defeated in the 1990s is striking back? Does it mean that the West has overreached and needs to rethink its model? Is there still time to revive the concept of a larger West that would not only include the Anglosphere but also Europe and may be beyond? How do we do that? IRI’s Thibault Muzergues and his guest discuss all these questions - and much more.
Find Michael on Twitter at @mkimmage
Find Thibault on Twitter at @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Further reading:
The Abandonment of the West: The History of an Idea in American Foreign Policy by Michael Kimmage (https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/michael-kimmage/the-abandonment-of-the-west/9781541646049/)
Europe's Eastern Partnership with Andrius Kubilius and Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze
On this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI's Thibault Muzergues is joined by two special guests, former Prime Minister of Lithuania, Andrius Kubilius, and Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, to talk about Europe’s Eastern Partnership initiative.
Last year was the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership and there was supposed to be a large celebration where the relationship was to be renewed with new policies for the next 10 years. But when COVID happened, the summit was postponed to 2021, and now it has been postponed again. This new postponement begs the question of the continued relevance of the initiative in its current shape. If that is the case, what is the way forward? Does it make sense to have this one-size-fits-all format for the EU’s neighborhood? Should the goals for the Eastern Partnership with geopolitical insight be rethought considering the instability in the Southern Caucasus, and considering the immediate threat that Russia poses to some countries in the region? And what should be the West’s approach and strategy towards Belarus? Thibault Muzergues and his guests debate all these questions - and many more.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze is currently a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, and head of the Parliamentary Committee on EU integration. Previously, she was Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration from 2016 to 2019. She is also the co-author of a collective book called “Black Sea Region: Cooperation and Security Building” which she published with Routledge in 2016.
Andrius Kubilius is currently a Member of the European Parliament and co-president of the Euronest parliamentary assembly. He served twice as a Prime Minister of Lithuania, twice in times of financial and economic crisis for this Baltic nation, in 1999-2000 and from 2008 to 2012. He was also the leader of the opposition from 2012 to 2016.
Find Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze on Twitter at @IKlympush
Find Andrius Kubilius on Twitter at @AndriusKubilius
Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter at @tmuzergues
Elections in Bulgaria, with Daniel Mitov
On this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI's Thibault Muzergues is joined by former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Daniel Mitov, to talk about Bulgaria as the country is about to head to the polls on Sunday, April 4th for legislative elections.
Last summer, Bulgaria was rocked by major protests about the country’s rule of law issues, which include corruption, the unchecked powers of the Prosecutor General, and judicial independence. Has the situation evolved since then? If the winner of the elections is GERB, where does GERB go to form a majority needed to form a government? What issues Bulgaria faces and which should be prioritized for the incoming government? What should be done to move forward on the integration of Western Balkans in the Euro-Atlantic structures? How will Bulgaria’s foreign policy evolve in what is a key region for Europe’s geopolitical stability? Thibault Muzergues and his guest debate all these questions - and many more.
Daniel Mitov served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria from 2014 to 2017. He has been involved since the early 2000s in Bulgaria’s democratization process. He worked as executive director of the Democracy Foundation in Bulgaria for four years and was also active in Bulgarian and European politics for many years. Daniel is now a candidate for the legislative elections.
Find Daniel on Twitter at @DanielMitov
Find Thibault on Twitter at @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Visit IRI's Beacon Project at iribeaconproject.org
Covid-19: Lessons learnt for the Transatlantic Space
On this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI's Thibault Muzergues is joined by Katalin Cseh, Mohand Sidi-Said, and IRI's Zuzana Palušáková. The discussion centers around a new report by the International Republican Institute (IRI), in partnership with the Alliance for Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE) and the European Liberal Forum (ELF), which measures European sentiment on COVID-19 and its fallout across the region.
What are the main takeaways from the data? How are Europe and North America going to exit the health crisis in the coming months? How can we improve our health systems to make them more resilient? How do we ensure that the governments will give back all the public freedoms they took away during the pandemic? Thibault Muzergues and his guests debate all these questions - and many more.
Katalin Cseh is a Hungarian Member of the European Parliament, and vice-chair of the Renew Europe parliamentary group - she hails from the Hungarian liberal party Momentum. She is also a member of the Committee on Industry, Research, and Energy and is part of the delegation for relations with the United States.
Mohand Sidi-Said is a Franco-Algerian philanthropist, former Vice-President of Pfizer, and of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which represents the Pharmaceutical industry in the United States.
Find Katalin on Twitter at @katka_cseh
Find Mohand on Twitter at @MohandSidi.
Find Thibault on Twitter at @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Further reading:
European public opinion perception about Covid-19 report (https://www.iri.org/sites/default/files/iri_european_public_opinion_perception_about_covid-19_final_version_.pdf)
Elections in the Netherlands, with Liesje Schreinemacher
On this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues and a Dutch politician and a Member of European Parliament, Liesje Schreinemacher talk about the Netherlands as the Dutch go to the polls for important legislative elections these days. The general election is largely seen as a referendum on the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is aiming to secure a fourth term with an election victory that would put him on course to be the Netherlands’ longest-serving government chief – but what next?
What explains the long-term dominance of the center-right parties in Dutch politics? Is the “frugal” branding of the Netherlands correct? How should we understand the Netherlands’ philosophy towards the EU? How does the Netherlands view the debate about strategic autonomy?
Liesje Schreinemacher is a Dutch politician and lawyer who is serving as a Member of the European Parliament for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy political party. She was elected to the European Parliament in the 2019 European Parliament election and is a part of the Renew Europe parliamentary group. She is a member of the Committee on International Trade and the Committee on Legal Affairs and a part of the parliamentary delegation for relations with the United States and a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights.
Find Liesje on Twitter at @LSchreinemacher
Find Thibault on Twitter at @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Baltic Sea Security, with Kristi Raik
Why is the Baltic sea region such a hotspot, despite having ninety percent of its coastline part of the EU? How to approach the dilemma of European strategic autonomy and how does it resonate for Baltic security? What to answer to those who claim that having NATO troops stationed in the Baltic states is inviting the Russians to escalate their engagement in the region? What to do with the growing presence of China and what does it mean for the transatlantic relationship? On this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues and his guest Kristi Raik discuss all these questions - and more.
Kristi Raik is the Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute at ICDS and Adjunct Professor at the University of Turku. She has previously served inter alia as a Senior Research Fellow and Acting Programme Director at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki; an official at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union in Brussels; and a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels and the International Centre for Policy Studies in Kyiv. She is also an author of numerous articles and publications on the European foreign and security policy.
Find Kristi on Twitter at @KristiRaik
Find Thibault on Twitter at @tmuzergues
Visit ICDS’s website at https://icds.ee/en/
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Democracy in the Age of Social Media, with Cyrus Krohn
On this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues and tech expert Cyrus Krohn discuss how much the internet has changed in the past 13 years since the two first met during the 2008 election cycle. Touching on themes of surveillance capitalism, information warfare and a potential dystopian outcome, Krohn delves into the solutions he presented in his recently published book Bombarded: How to Fight Back Against the Online Assault on Democracy. Krohn, who’s background includes tech giants Microsoft and Yahoo, has a great deal to say about information warfare, psychological operations, and data protection.
Will the U.S. – and to a greater extent, global democracy – be able to curtail the harmful effects of information warfare before it’s too late? How exactly can we challenge surveillance capitalism, and what makes the current online trend described in Krohn’s book more dangerous than what has happened before? Find out the answers to these questions and more on this intriguing episode of the podcast.
Cyrus Krohn is the author of the 2020 book Bombarded: How to Fight Back Against the Online Assault on Democracy. Krohn has been in the digital realm practically since the beginning, when he helped bring the internet to the White House as an intern in the early 1990s. He then went on to consolidate his reputation as a frontline digital innovator with companies like Yahoo, Microsoft and Slate.com. He has moved back and forth from the West Coast to Washington D.C., where he was most recently the Social Media manager for the Republican National Committee.
Find Cyrus on Twitter at @CyrusK
Find Thibault on Twitter at @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Further reading:
Bombarded: How to Fight Back Against the Online Assault on Democracy by Cyrus Krohn (https://cyruskrohn.com/)
Isolationism: Past and Present
In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI's Thibault Muzergues is joined by Charles A. Kupchan to explore the history of isolationism in the United States and apply those lessons towards a broader conversation about the future of America, Europe, and transatlantic relations.
Charles serves as a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and as a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of Government. From 2014 to 2017, he served as special assistant to the president and senior director for European affairs on the staff of the National Security Council in the Barack Obama administration. He was also a director for European affairs on the NSC during the first Bill Clinton administration.
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org
Visit CFR's website at https://www.cfr.org/
Further reading:
Isolationism: A History of America's Efforts to Shield Itself From the World by Charles A. Kupchan (https://www.cfr.org/book/isolationism)
President Biden's Foreign Policy Challenges
Today, on January 20, 2021, President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn into the office of President of the United States of America. The 46thPresident will enter this position during a global pandemic that shook up international relations during an already contentious period around the world. On today’s episode of .think Atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues welcomes Damon Wilson to discuss President Biden’s foreign policy plan and the challenges, allies, successes, and strategies he may encounter in the next four years.
Damon Wilson is an American foreign affairs advisor and analyst, as well as the current Executive Vice President at the Atlantic Council. Damon formerly served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council, where he played a leading role in developing and coordinating US government efforts to work with all European Nations, the EU, NATO, and the OSCE. Damon also has experience serving at the US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq as the Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff.
Find Damon Wilson on Twitter at @DamonMacWilson
Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter at @tmuzergues
Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org