Expert Commentaries

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Where Do We Go From Here?

Richard C. Longworth

Senior Fellow Richard C. Longworth reflects on his conversations with national and international leaders, policymakers, and experts over the past few months and wonders "What's next?" for the transatlantic alliance?

Ana Miyares Photography

Live-Blogging from Inside the Young Atlanticist Summit

Chicago Young Professionals and Richard C. Longworth

Senior Fellow Richard C. Longworth and a group of Chicago Young Professionals offer on-the-scene insights and analysis from the Chicago Young Atlanticist Summit, the premier public diplomacy event taking place alongside the NATO summit.

Ana Miyares Photography

Women, War, and Peace

Cassandra Gaddo

Reflecting on a panel discussion at this weekend's Chicago Young Atanticist Summit, Cassandra Gaddo writes that communities and nations "will not reach [their] full potential...unless women’s rights are given the full focus they deserve, and women are involved in this process at every level."

NATO Flickr Photostream

And Still It Moves: Reconfiguring NATO for the 21st Century

Hendrik Spruyt

As heads of state from NATO member states and partner nations convene for the second day in Chicago, the director of Northwestern University's Buffett Center for International and Comparative Studies assesses the Alliance's present operations and contemplates its future.

nuclear-news.net

NATO Continues Dangerous Delay Over Nuclear Decisions

Paul Ingram

The executive director of the British American Security Information Council highlights "the contradictions inherent in NATO’s nuclear deployments" and expresses concern that the Alliance's delay over nuclear decisions weakens its credibility.

MPD01605 Flickr

Will Europe Save the Euro?

Ambassador J.D. Bindenagel

With the Eurozone debt crisis continuing to threaten the global economy, Ambassador J.D. Bindenagel argues that German leadership and the adoption of a European fiscal union are key to ensuring the Eurozone's survival and strengthening an integrated Europe.

Abdallahh Flickr

The Real Latin American Revolution

Alberto R. Coll

Rising from the instablity and stagnation of the Cold War period, Latin America has experienced significant political and economic developments over the past fifteen years. The United States should welcome the rise of Latin American countries, writes Alberto R. Coll.

US Army Africa (Flickr Creative Commons)

Strategic Priorities in Contemporary Africa: Part III

Richard Joseph

In the third of a three-part series, Dr. Richard Joseph examines Africa's "prismatic narrative," in which African developments must be viewed "through the prism of how key dimensions interrelate and the complex interplay of local, regional, and global factors."

AP

The World of Parsley Island

Richard C. Longworth

"Today, the United States is lavishly armed but increasingly powerless," writes Senior Fellow Richard C. Longworth. "It’s a riskier world out there. Those who resented a strong United States should fear the idea of a weak United States."

NATO Welcomes New Partners and a New Generation

Carl Bindenagel

This weekend in Chicago, internationally-oriented Young Atlanticists will engage in substantive discussions with world leaders at McCormick Place, just a couple corridors away from the NATO summit. Carl Bindenagel highlights the importance of a new generation of transatlantic leaders.

NATO

Whither NATO? Not So Fast.

John DeBlasio

John DeBlasio argues that the transatlantic alliance—anchored by U.S. resolve and commitment—is an essential force in addressing continuously evolving transnational threats.

ILRI Flickr

Women Farmers and Food Security

Milena Novy-Marx

Investing in women farmers can alleviate hunger and poverty and reduce carbon emissions, writes Milena Novy-Marx of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

affineontech.com

NATO’s Cyber Security Strategy: A Good Start, But Much to Do

Marc A. Sorel

While acknowledging NATO's current strategy against cyber threats, Marc A. Sorel argues that the alliance must address additional doctrinal issues to effectively counter future cyber challenges.

pmindia.nic.in

The Rise of the BRICS

Gregory Chin

"It is time for the United States to prioritize more robust and serious engagement with the rising economies," writes Gregory Chin.

United States Navy Flickr

It’s Time for NATO to Look to the Future Climate

Joyce Coffee

Highlighting the ways climate shifts have affected conflicts historically, Joyce Coffee emphasizes the need for NATO to assume a more proactive and central role in preparing for future climate contingencies.

White House Flickr

America and the Near-Term Outlook for the G8

David Hale

With the G8 summit approaching, David Hale argues that the United States will gain economic momentum and help drive a global recovery. Hale discusses the factors influencing improvements and the risks threatening the U.S. economy.

U.S. Navy Flickr

NATO and the Responsibility to Protect

Ambassador Richard S. Williamson

The NATO summit in Chicago provides a unique opportunity to take action and advance the consequential emerging international norm “The Responsibility to Protect,” writes Senior Fellow Ambassador Richard S. Williamson.

USAID_IMAGES Flickr

No Food, No Peace

Roger Thurow

Senior Fellow Roger Thurow argues that agricultural development is of critical importance to the national security concerns of all countries. Thurow explains why food security should be a key issue of the upcoming G8 and NATO summits.

Jim Bahn (Flickr Creative Commons)

Trade and the Global Recession

Brent Neiman

Brent Neiman of the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business explores how international trade has been affected by the "Great Recession," the ways these outcomes compare to the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the role international organizations have had in minimizing damage to the global economy.

US Army Africa (Flickr Creative Commons)

Strategic Priorities in Contemporary Africa: Part II

Richard Joseph

In the second of a three-part series, Dr. Richard Joseph examines Africa's "disaster narrative," in which "political instability, state erosion, gross abuses of government power, and appalling human catastrophes" remain enduring issues across the continent.

NATO

And Still It Moves: A New NATO for New Security Challenges

Hendrik Spruyt

"The Alliance still has an important role to play in the multilateral security architecture of tomorrow, even if it requires some changes in its organizational structure and orientation," writes Northwestern professor Hendrik Spruyt.

White House Flickr Photostream

What to Expect at the Upcoming Summits

Robert Chatterton Dickson

A seasoned British diplomat provides a preview of the NATO and G8 summits. On NATO, Robert Chatterton Dickson affirms that "the Alliance remains the indispensible vehicle for taking action as an international coalition."

John Flanagan (Flickr Creative Commons)

Chicago’s French Community Awaits the NATO Summit

Graham Paul

Chicago "showcases the essence of America in its history as a French explorer’s discovery, its status as a major trade center, its diverse immigrant population, and its truly Midwestern feel," writes Graham Paul, Consul General of France in Chicago.

Changes Challenge NATO

Richard C. Longworth

Senior Fellow Richard C. Longworth reflects on the Council's three-day international conference on the future of NATO and draws ties from the high-level discussions to the key items to be discussed at NATO's Chicago summit in May.

Caveat Legislator

Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez

The Arab Spring revolutions have ushered in an historic wave of constitutional reform across the Middle East and North Africa. Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez of The Chicago Council offers some guidance to reforming countries.

Wikimedia Commons

Why Europe Still Matters

Alberto R. Coll

"The nations and people of Europe are closest to the United States in their values...and their willingness to work with us on behalf of our substantial common strategic interests," writes Alberto Coll.

Flickr Creative Commons

Strategic Priorities in Contemporary Africa: Part I

Richard Joseph

In the first of a three-part series, Dr. Richard Joseph examines Africa's "progress narrative," which "has provided an uplift from the usual dismal perceptions" of the continent. Still, Joseph warns, "there’s a long way to go—much of it uphill."

NATO

Charting NATO’s future path

Marc A. Sorel

NATO "must set for itself a new agenda of lean, highly interoperable capabilities, built around an organizing principle of flexibility to address the threats of an uncertain international system," argues Marc A. Sorel.

REGIERUNGonline / Bergmann

Germany’s Global Role at Risk?

J.D. Bindenagel

J.D. Bindenagel, the U.S. deputy chief of mission in East Germany when the Berlin Wall came down, addresses the Germans' decision to keep out of the NATO operation in Libya and its implications for German leadership in Europe and beyond.

U.S. Embassy The Hague’s Flickr photostream

Reflections from the Netherlands

Ambassador Fay Hartog Levin

The former U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands reflects on her experiences in The Hague, the significance of the transatlantic security alliance, and the 2010 withdrawal of Dutch troops from Afghanistan.

The White House’s Flickr photostream

Looking Back, Moving Forward

Roger Thurow

Senior Fellow Roger Thurow argues that it’s up to President Obama, as host of this year’s G8 summit, to insist that the fight to end world hunger is a top priority on the leaders’ agenda.

Berndt Rostad (Flickr Creative Commons)

Scaling the Chicago Summits

Richard C. Longworth

A former Chicago Tribune foreign correspondent who covered past NATO and G8 summits, Senior Fellow Richard C. Longworth shines a useful light on the meetings that will take place in the United States in May.