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

Theresa Carolina Winter is Policy advisor for security and

Ana Zahariadou is a defense and security affairs specialist and

Radu Albu Comanescu is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of

And last but not least, our own Transatlantic Strategy Division

What is the most important thing that Allies need to achieve at

Do not forget to download IRI's publication " THREATS: European Perspectives on a changing strategic environment”.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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