Atlantic Community
Encyclopedia
The Atlantic Community is a German-American project to apply Web 2.0
ideas to transatlantic foreign policy
strategy. Launched in April 2007 as an undertaking of the Atlantic Initiative, the Atlantic Community aims at facilitating discussion between young thinkers and established members of the foreign policy realm in order to increase participation in a system that, in Europe
, is often closed off to the public at large. The Advisory Board of the Atlantic Community is non-partisan, and includes journalist Marvin Kalb
, UK Liberal Democrat
Lord Wallace
, and German diplomat Jürgen Chrobog
as members. In January 2009 the Atlantic Community was selected as a “Landmark in the Land of Ideas”. Germany: Land of Ideas is a shared initiative of the German government, commerce and industry represented by the Federation of German Industries (BDI), and leading corporations, under the patronage of former Federal President Horst Köhler
.
. Its mission is to give a voice to a new generation of thinkers and to contribute to a more diverse strategic community.
The members of the Atlantic Community can share and discuss their ideas by posting op-eds, research
, and comments on the website. The best analyses and policy recommendations are summarized in Atlantic Memos that are presented to decision makers in NATO and EU countries.
Additionally, think tank provides daily top press commentaries and regular up-dates of the best of think-tanks' publications.
, Minister of State at the German Chancellery
, Karsten D. Voigt, the Coordinator for German-American Cooperation in the German Foreign Office, Julianne Smith of the American think tank CSIS
, and current Chatham House
director Robin Niblett. Members of the Atlantic Community then comment on these strategies and add their own ideas below the original article. The finished product, called an Executive Summary, is a one-page policy memo in PDF format that summarizes the netroots
suggestions and discussion from the community.
In 2011 Atlantic Community celebrated the tenth anniversary of UN Resolution 1325 by launching an op-ed competition "Women on Transatlantic Security". The initiative was sponsored by the NATO Public Diplomacy Division and the United States Mission to NATO
. The competition aimed at empowering young women working in the peace and security areas and encouraging them to participate in debates on international security
issues.
Recent Policy Workshop competition "Ideas with Impact: Students Advise Decision Makers", which took place in May 2011 in Berlin
, focused on policy recommendations on Iran
, Russia
and climate change
. The students, winners of the competition, presented their policy proposals to Philip D. Murphy
, the US Ambassador to Germany, CDU/CSU
Foreign Policy Spokesman Philipp Mißfelder
and their policy advisers.
Apart from competitions and workshops Atlantic Community conducts expert surveys. In April 2010 the think tank carried out a NATO sponsored survey of Russian expert aimed at gauging the path of the NATO-Russia relations.
Jimmy Wales
, the founder of the Wikipedia
, was featured among the decision makers interviewed by the Atlantic Community.
German-language publications
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
ideas to transatlantic foreign policy
Transatlantic relations
Transatlantic relations refers to the historic, cultural, political, economic and social relations between countries on both side of the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes specifically those between the United States, Canada and the countries in Europe, although other meanings are possible.There are a...
strategy. Launched in April 2007 as an undertaking of the Atlantic Initiative, the Atlantic Community aims at facilitating discussion between young thinkers and established members of the foreign policy realm in order to increase participation in a system that, in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, is often closed off to the public at large. The Advisory Board of the Atlantic Community is non-partisan, and includes journalist Marvin Kalb
Marvin Kalb
Marvin L. Kalb is an American journalist. Kalb was the Shorenstein Center's Founding Director and Edward R. Murrow Professor of Press and Public Policy . The Shorenstein Center and the Kennedy School are part of Harvard University...
, UK Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
Lord Wallace
William Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire
William John Lawrence Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire is a British academic, writer, politician and Lord in Waiting.-Early life:...
, and German diplomat Jürgen Chrobog
Jürgen Chrobog
Jürgen Chrobog is a German jurist, diplomat, and German Ambassador to the United States from 1995 to 2001.-Life:...
as members. In January 2009 the Atlantic Community was selected as a “Landmark in the Land of Ideas”. Germany: Land of Ideas is a shared initiative of the German government, commerce and industry represented by the Federation of German Industries (BDI), and leading corporations, under the patronage of former Federal President Horst Köhler
Horst Köhler
Horst Köhler is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. He was President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the CDU and the CSU, and the liberal FDP, Köhler was elected to his first five-year term by the Federal Assembly on...
.
Mission
Atlantic Community has more than 5600 members, including future policymakers, think-tankers, journalists, academics, students, and active citizensActive Citizens
Active Citizens is a left-wing political party in Greece and member of the SYRIZA political coalition. Its most prominent delegate is Manolis Glezos, former member of the Hellenic Parliament under the flag of EDA and the man who replaced the Nazi flag with a Greek one on the Acropolis during World...
. Its mission is to give a voice to a new generation of thinkers and to contribute to a more diverse strategic community.
The members of the Atlantic Community can share and discuss their ideas by posting op-eds, research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
, and comments on the website. The best analyses and policy recommendations are summarized in Atlantic Memos that are presented to decision makers in NATO and EU countries.
Additionally, think tank provides daily top press commentaries and regular up-dates of the best of think-tanks' publications.
Activities
The main feature of the Atlantic Community is the Policy Workshop, where new commentary is published from think-tankers, journalists and decision makers working in subjects which are relevant to the transatlantic partners. Among contributors to the Workshops were Eckart von KlaedenEckart von Klaeden
Eckart Peter Hans von Klaeden is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union, serving as Minister of State at the German Chancellery since 28 October 2009...
, Minister of State at the German Chancellery
German Chancellery
The German Chancellery is a federal agency serving the executive office of the Chancellor, the head of the German federal government. The chief of the Chancellery holds the rank of either a Secretary of State or a Federal Minister ...
, Karsten D. Voigt, the Coordinator for German-American Cooperation in the German Foreign Office, Julianne Smith of the American think tank CSIS
Center for Strategic and International Studies
The Center for Strategic and International Studies is a bipartisan Washington, D.C., foreign policy think tank. The center was founded in 1962 by Admiral Arleigh Burke and Ambassador David Manker Abshire, originally as part of Georgetown University...
, and current Chatham House
Chatham House
Chatham House, formally known as The Royal Institute of International Affairs, is a non-profit, non-governmental organization based in London whose mission is to analyse and promote the understanding of major international issues and current affairs. It is regarded as one of the world's leading...
director Robin Niblett. Members of the Atlantic Community then comment on these strategies and add their own ideas below the original article. The finished product, called an Executive Summary, is a one-page policy memo in PDF format that summarizes the netroots
Netroots
Netroots is a term coined in 2002 by Jerome Armstrong to describe political activism organized through blogs and other online media, including wikis and social network services. The word is a portmanteau of Internet and grassroots, reflecting the technological innovations that set netroots...
suggestions and discussion from the community.
In 2011 Atlantic Community celebrated the tenth anniversary of UN Resolution 1325 by launching an op-ed competition "Women on Transatlantic Security". The initiative was sponsored by the NATO Public Diplomacy Division and the United States Mission to NATO
United States Permanent Representative to NATO
The United States Permanent Representative to NATO is the official representative of the United States to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The Representative has the rank of full ambassador and is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate...
. The competition aimed at empowering young women working in the peace and security areas and encouraging them to participate in debates on international security
International security
International security consists of the measures taken by nations and international organizations, such as the United Nations, to ensure mutual survival and safety. These measures include military action and diplomatic agreements such as treaties and conventions. International and national security...
issues.
Recent Policy Workshop competition "Ideas with Impact: Students Advise Decision Makers", which took place in May 2011 in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, focused on policy recommendations on Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
. The students, winners of the competition, presented their policy proposals to Philip D. Murphy
Philip D. Murphy
Philip D. Murphy is an American businessman and the United States Ambassador to Germany. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 7, 2009. Murphy arrived with his family in Berlin on August 21, 2009....
, the US Ambassador to Germany, CDU/CSU
CDU/CSU
CDU/CSU, unofficially also referred to as the Union parties or the Union, is the name of the Bundestag parliamentary faction comprising the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria , considered to be sister parties...
Foreign Policy Spokesman Philipp Mißfelder
Philipp Mißfelder
Philipp Mißfelder is a German politician. He is chairman of the Junge Union, the youth organization of the CDU, and a member of the Bundestag, where he acts as Foreign Policy Spokesman for the Fraction of the Christian Democrats...
and their policy advisers.
Apart from competitions and workshops Atlantic Community conducts expert surveys. In April 2010 the think tank carried out a NATO sponsored survey of Russian expert aimed at gauging the path of the NATO-Russia relations.
Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the Wikia company....
, the founder of the Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
, was featured among the decision makers interviewed by the Atlantic Community.
Sources
- Women on Transatlantic Security, NATO News June 30, 2011
- Broadening the Security Debate - Transatlantic Issues World Policy Institute, February 8, 2011,
- Game, Reset and Good Match?, NATO Review, April 2010
- The Wiki Way to Create Change in Global Politics Atlantic Community, February 23, 2010
- Johannes Bohnen BMW Stiftung, Re Thinking
German-language publications
- Das sind die besten Denkfabriken der Welt, Die Welt, May 4, 2011
- Die Nutzwerker, brand eins, July 2010
- Was genau ist die Atlantische Initiative?, BILD, July 22, 2010
- Denkfabrik 2.0, Frankfurter Allgemeine hochschulanzeiger, Novermber 16, 2009
- Ein "Facebook" fuer Aussenpolitik?, Frankfurter Allgemeine