Atlantic Publications

This study quantifies the contributions of Brazil’s blue economy and explores the economic interdependence between coastal and hinterland regions through interregional linkages. Employing a multi-level approach, we analyze municipality and state-level data on oceanrelated activities. Using an interstate input-output model, we estimate the value chains of the blue economy, offering a deeper understanding of its systemic impacts. This study addresses gaps in national, regional, and lo ...

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Significant historical milestones have redefined global power structures and shaped the evolution of transatlantic relations. From the Peace of Westphalia to the end of the Cold War, international relations have undergone major transitions. The fall of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc created new dynamics within the transatlantic alliance, offering both challenges and opportunities for Western countries to realign their strategies in a rapidly changing world. ...

The evolving structure of international power—from the erosion of unipolarity to the emergence of multipolarity (though still susceptible to a scenario where multipolarity evolves into a new form of bipolarity)—is giving rise to various material and ideological factors that are steering global dynamics toward a new ‘regionalization of globalization’. The real opportunity lies in not just considering a new form of regionalism, but in focusing on the potential of a new kind of region: ...

From a realist perspective, during a period of rising multipolarity, the Atlantic Basin can be identified as an emerging geostrategic region and a potential focal point of geostrategic competition, especially in the Southern Atlantic, raising the sub-basin’s strategic significance and its potential strategic autonomy. The liberal perspective – although its highest goal might be a global multilateral order – has embraced regionalism before, under the bipolar international regime of t ...

Un proverbe africain dit, seul on va plus vite ; ensemble on va plus loin. C’est dans cet esprit de l’action et du leadership collectifs que s’insère l’initiative de l’Afrique atlantique initiée par le Maroc et qui vise la création des conditions nécessaires pour la construction d’une région Afrique/Atlantique stable, prospère et tournée vers la mer. À cette première initiative s’est ajoutée une deuxième, celle de la facilitation de l’accès à la mer aux pays du Sahel, e ...

The strategic significance of the southern Atlantic is growing, driven by two underlying dynamics. Firstly, we have seen the geostrategic capabilities of the southern Atlantic states and their inhabitants strengthen and the value of their strategic assets rise, despite lingering internal vulnerabilities and frequent instability, often caused by the northern Atlantic and, on occasion, Eurasia. Secondly, the way in which the southern Atlantic states are pursuing and exploiting the pot ...

In realist terms, the Southern Atlantic represents a natural partner for the powers of Eurasia—now grouped together in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)— especially for those that are, or could be, BRICS members. Pan-Atlantic cooperation is inherently of strategic interest to Eurasian countries because of its potential implications for the ultimate size of the BRICS Plus, for the degree of implication from its members in the Southern Atlantic, and for BRICS strategic goals ...

“According to realism, states exist within an anarchic international system in which they are ultimately dependent on their own capabilities, or power, to further their national interests. The most important national interest is the survival of the state, including its people, political system, and territorial integrity. Other major interests for realists include the preservation of a nation’s culture and economy. Realists contend that, as long as the world is divided into nation-st ...

The Atlantic Basin has long lacked diplomatic and political initiatives embracing it as a whole. In that regard, it stands out from other oceans, as focus on the North Atlantic has largely overshadowed the "Rest". Nevertheless, a series of recent initiatives point to a possible solution to this long institutional absence. Building on decades of reflection and recent momentum, an emerging pan-Atlanticism might be on the horizon. ...

It gives me pleasure to introduce the 2023 edition of Atlantic Currents, the annual report on Atlantic affairs which the Policy Center for the New South has issued since 2014. For this 10th edition, experts from 27 countries were invited to state their views on dynamics of interest to our shared ocean. Their respective inputs made this issue the culmination of a decade of investigation, studies, and analyses that can help understand better the multifaceted challenges and opportunit ...

The Policy Center for the New South, under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, has hosted the 11th edition of its annual Atlantic Dialogues International Conference in Marrakech from December 14 to 16, 2022. Over 350 guests from 60 different countries have taken part in this first in-person edition in three years, under the theme “Cooperation in a Mutating World: Opportunities of the Wider Atlantic”. The most recent edition in this format, held in 2019 address “The S ...

The Atlantic area and its Afro-Atlantic seaboard are suffering the consequences of the global situation. We are witnessing a complex geopolitical game involving different strategies that have various processes, tactics, and objectives. The current situation reveals a paradoxical dynamic, which involves the Euro-Atlantic powers, extra- regional powers (China and Russia), and all the Afro-Atlantic countries. How is the power game organized in the Atlantic area? How does Africa9s Atlan ...

This report is part of a partnership between the Policy Center for the New South and the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center.   The creative economy is a constantly evolving activity, driven by the cultural industries, which make up a large and interconnected sector. Arts and culture impact the creative economy in major areas: education, innovation, collaboration, and clustering. The cultural industries are one of the most rapidly growing sectors of the global economy. This sector is ...

L’océan Atlantique, dans sa partie sud, qui demeure un espace géopolitique inexploité, peut servir de nouvelle plateforme de dialogue entre le Nord et le Sud. Le Royaume du Maroc, stratégiquement placé dans cet espace, peut exploiter sa façade atlantique afin d’insuffler une nouvelle dynamique à sa relation avec l’Amérique latine pour le renforcement des échanges politiques et économiques dans le sud global. Les relations entre le Maroc et les pays de l’Amérique latine c ...

The energy sector faces many challenges that undermine economic growth, energy security and access, and environmental sustainability. To address these challenges, Atlantic Basin countries need to improve access to reliable energy, diversify their energy mix with low-carbon alternatives and improve energy efficiency in the long term. However, the transition to clean energy will also create new risks and challenges that differ from one Atlantic country to another, requiring additional ...

This publication provides an insight into the lens through which countries of the Global South view the current period of successive crises, brought about by an ongoing global pandemic and a war in Europe. It highlights how the combined weight of history, culture, and geography has shaped the Global South’s interests and is influencing its foreign policy stance during one of the most dangerous periods of Great-Power competition in recent times—one that could see the fracturing of th ...

This ninth edition of “Atlantic Currents” appears in an international context marked predominantly by a ten month-war between Russia and Nato members that began February 2022. The war is affecting not only the European and American member States directly and actively involved in an unprecedented manner, but more importantly the countries of the global South that have suffered collateral damage. Indeed, the nations of the world were barely out of the most painful and costly phase o ...

“Within the realm of military conflicts, the Atlantic Basin can be considered a relatively peaceful area, especially in the northern part. However, the region has faced unprecedented challenges in terms of policy planning and strategizing with the emergence of the global pandemic, the stagnating economic growth, and the population’s growing discontent toward public institutions. The conjunction of sanitary, economic, and political crisis has questioned the historical stability of we ...

The Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders Alumni (ADEL) Portraits are a series of journalistic insights that delve into the stories and backgrounds of impactful young leaders of the ADEL community, now 350 alumni strong. These portraits are more than a biography as they capture the motives, success stories, career shifts, and vision behind each emerging leader’s pursuit of positive impact. From Morocco to South Africa, Germany to Canada, Brazil and the United States, these young leade ...

Ce Policy Paper explore les enjeux de la maritimisation du monde et les opportunités qui se présentent au Maroc et les menaces auxquelles le Royaume fait face sur sa façade atlantique. Nous nous appuyons sur les opportunités que représentent la côte Atlantique pour le Maroc et, plus globalement, pour le continent africain, tant au niveau du commerce de biens et de marchandises qu’aux niveaux logistique et portuaire. Enfin, ce Papier insiste sur l’importance de la jonction entr ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the global economy and has challenged the best minds to rethink how to design and implement an effective recovery. Countries in the wider Atlantic region have exhibited differential trajectories in traversing the pandemic. A number of countries in Europe succeeded in vaccinating most of their eligible populations, enabling life to return somewhat to normal. A smaller group of countries in Europe could manage infection rates even more ti ...

Thanks to the positive momentum in transatlantic relations brought about by the arrival of the Biden administration, significant progress is expected on a range of key digital issues. New rules are emerging that are designed to level the playing field for economic actors and ensure the respect of civil liberties, while significant new investments in technological innovation are taking place amid considerable industrial reorganizations. This paper proposes to shed light on seven part ...

Le bilan des relations Europe/Méditerranée et Europe/Afrique invite aujourd’hui à un renouveau de ces partenariats. Un renouveau car il y a retrait partiel de l’Europe en ce qui concerne les questions de développement du voisinage Méditerranée-Afrique dans un temps où les partenariats actuels [de Barcelone et celui de Cotonou] s’emboitent dans la logique du commerce (libre-échange) et de l’aide financière. Le renouveau du partenariat Euro-méditerranée-Afrique devrait s’inscrire dans ...

The BDA Currents: Where Diplomacy Meets Business, is the Brussels Diplomatic Academy’s annual report covering the wider geopolitical and other factors influencing and affecting the world of diplomacy, international relations and global business. The journal focuses on issues of topical interest around the centers of global power, influence and importance, including the continents of Europe and Africa, the Middle East, China, India & Asia, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independe ...

With a population of approximately 200 million, Nigeria accounts for about half of West Africa's population and has one of the largest concentrations of young people in the world. Endowed with abundant natural resources, Nigeria is one of Africa's largest oil exporters, with an estimated 37 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, the majority of which are found in the Niger River Delta and offshore in the Bight of Benin, the Gulf of Guinea and the Bight of Bonny. Nigeria also ...

The Atlantic Current’s 7th edition provides a unique overview and in-depth analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic as seen from the Atlantic, and the challenges it poses for the region. In this edition, the authors examine how SARS-CoV-2 has proved to be a destabilizing force in a wide range of sectors such as health, international relations, trade, energy or the economy. This report aims to examine and assess the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis while endeavoring to learn from these n ...

The Atlantic basin faces considerable challenges on multiple fronts. Financial and economic struggles, coupled with political shifts and social turmoil, are reshaping the region’s geopolitical landscape. Unemployment, poverty, violence, migration, extremism, climate change and other problems are on the rise and the need to tackle them effectively is pressing. To find adequate solutions to these challenges, it is crucial to create inclusive discussions between the North and the Sout ...