.think atlantic

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.

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

Find IRI on Twitter: @IRIglobal

Find Thibault on Twitter: @tmuzergues

In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Bruno Tertrais to talk about nuclear deterrence.

In this episode of .think atlantic, Thibault Muzergues returns as host to talk to Jacob Heilbrunn about the past, present and future of Neoconservatism.

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. 

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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.