Atlantic

Immigration has never been without tensions. In the United States, immigration remains a contentious issue that now, more than ever, dominates election campaigns. A 727-kilometer wall has been constructed on the US-Mexico border to halt the influx of migrants from the south. In Europe, the rise of far-right parties over the past twenty years has culminated in them becoming a major political force in the European Parliament ahead of the June 2024 elections. The tension around immigr ...

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 ...

Councilwoman Roxy Ndebumadu is a technology entrepreneur, and special advisor on beneficial AI, online safety and emerging technology. As a two term-elected official, she represents the City of Bowie, the fifth largest city in Maryland. She is also a 2023 alumna of the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program. Learn more about her here. Amidst the churning tides of globalization, in which currents of tradition meet the winds of change, there is a call for a new international c ...

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 ...

  Chadia Mathurin is a 2023 alumna of Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program. Learn more about her here.This blog was originally published here. For the past week, I've been situated in Marrakech, Morocco as part of the Policy Centre for the New South’s Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders Programme and Conference. A think tank, the Policy Centre's model of engaging us as emerging leaders involved creating opportunities — over dinner, through workshops, through labs, and exper ...

“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 ...

Francisco Cordoba is a 2019 alumnus of Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program. Learn more about him here. This piece was originally published here. I recently had an eye-opening experience at the Atlantic Dialogue conference in Morocco, organized by the Policy Center for the New South. Picture this: a diverse gathering of leaders, policymakers, and innovators from across Africa and the Atlantic basin. It was like a mini melting pot of ideas and cultures. One intriguing conve ...

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 ...

Le propos semblera tautologique à beaucoup, mais les géographies ne sont pas - seulement - des œuvres de la Création, ou le produit du hasard et des accidents de la vie de la Terre. Elles sont, presque plus fondamentalement, pourrait-on dire, le produit du regard actif de l’Homme, qui, porté sur elles, les façonne, par le travail, et par la projection de représentations mentales dans la matière. Cette capacité de l’Homme à (se) projeter (par) son regard dans l’espace visibilise les ...

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 ...

In the delightful garden restaurant of the Marrakech hotel Mamounia, the tables had been set for hundreds of guests, 16 seated at each. Flowers had been arranged and there were crystal wine glasses. Yet, on this Wednesday, December 14 , at 7 p.m., only one table was occupied. Among the guests around it were a Turkish NATO-assigned general, Aydin Killiç, camouflaged in a dark tailored suit; a former Italian ambassador, Alessandro Minuto-Rizzo, President of the NATO Defense College Fo ...

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 ...

The Policy Center for the New South, in collaboration with Economia HEM Research Center and the LARGEPA Laboratory of the Paris II Panthéon Assas University have conducted a 3-year study on emergent leadership through the ADEL community. This study, titled “Emerging Leaders: Leveraging Networks, Political Skill and Self-Leadership” has been conducted by researcher Yasmina El Kadiri, in collaboration with Taoufik Benkaraache and Hammad Sqalli, with the participation of Lilia Rizk. Th ...

Le présent rapport de recherche est la synthèse d’une étude sur les leaders émergents, leurs stratégies, pratiques et leviers d’empowerment, un travail d’une durée de trois ans, fruit d’un partenariat entre le Policy Center For The New South, Economia HEM Research Center et le laboratoire LARGEPA de l’Université Paris II Panthéon Assas. L’étude a examiné les attitudes, les ressources, les compétences et les capacités d’un échantillon de plus d’une centaine de leaders émergents de di ...

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 ...

Based in Washington DC, where he launched the Accountability Lab in 2012, this British citizen describes himself as « inquisitive, energetic and values-driven ». He heads a global « translocal network » which is expanding rapidly and about to open new local labs in Uganda and Somalia. The Lab, a non profit organization, currently employs 104 people in 14 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The aim is to make governments more transparent and accountable, through positive c ...

“Entrepreneurial, curious, energetic”. This is how Youssef Kobo, a Belgian citizen coming from a Moroccan family, would describe himself in three words. Always on the road, this busy traveler is taking part in conferences and workshops all over the world. His line of work? He is an individual consultant on strategic innovation. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, he has launched his own enterprise, called New Blueprints, end of 2020. The demand is high for his talents of keynote speaker ...

This political analyst, expert in security issues and international development, describes her personality as « down to earth, curious », and not taking herself « very seriously ». Born in Seattle, half German and half Korean-American, she was raised « between three cultures ». After a decade living and working abroad in Rwanda, China, Afghanistan, the UK, and Myanmar, she is now based in Berlin. She’s fond of cooking and is a « beer nerd » – her German side, definitely. This 36 ye ...

This impact-driven young Peruvian legal scholar studies and advocates for the redesign of Corporate Law internationally through innovation for sustainable development. What does that mean exactly? After graduating from Harvard Law School (LL.M.’19), Juan Diego Mujica Filippi has been working as academic coordinator of an international research project on purpose-driven companies and the regulation of the fourth sector sponsored by the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB, based ...

In her very energetic way and a waterfall of words, Edna Valencia Murillo explains how the Atlantic Dialogues 2019 have been a life changer. At the time of her participation in the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program in 2019, she was a Colombian news anchor for France 24 in Spanish, working from Bogota, a job she left in September 2021 to follow a more independent route. During the pandemic, she has written a book, built her platform “to connect black people in Colombia with ...

The modern offices are flooded with light; some figures in face masks face the empty space, which is embraced by total silence. The air conditioning system is producing fresh air, indicating that the Policy Center for the New South continued to work in the shadow of the pandemic. Some researchers and analysts worked from home, others left large spaces between their desks, lost in thought and reflection, not even tempted to look out of the windows for orange trees, which spread thei ...

Bushra Ebadi speaks fast, in an even tone and a very articulate way. This social innovator, a strong personality raised in Mississauga (Canada) by parents who fled their country, Afghanistan, has a lot to say and even more to do. Since July 2021, she is a Network Coordinator for Amnesty International. Her mission: “Establish through a collaborative process a global civil society network on data-surveillance technologies to promote the rights of displaced persons and migrants in the ...

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 ...

This young Ivorian entrepreneur, who has spent 7 years abroad, has moved back home in 2015 to head the local NGO 35.35. Since July 2021, he has been in charge of Africa for Dunia Payment, a startup operating in fintech through a mobile app, aiming at democratizing banking services. Richard Seshie was born and raised in Abidjan, the capital city of Ivory Coast. His childhood dream was all about strategy. “I wanted to enroll in the army, but this was just a dream and I don’t really h ...

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 ...

The COVID-19 Virus and the Liberation of Women It seems not much has changed in almost 400 years since Molière wrote these words in his comedy The school for wives. Male dominance, God-like characters, known as men, united in inexcusable discrimination, sexism, gender inequality, infallible men forever trying to rule the world. “A wife who writes, knows more than can be good for her”, Molière’s main character sighs in the play, insisting that female brightness as a rule “is a bad o ...

As a Project Assistant responsible for Speech Writing in the Office of Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, CEO of the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD, Seleman Kitenge, born in 1989 in Tanzania, is now based in Johannesburg. He was first a volunteer for the African Union (AU) in the same role for one year, before being hired in August 2020 by the AU Development Agency. “I’m enjoying it, he says, some of my mentors are really good”. Among them, Togolani Mavura,  Private Secretary and Speech W ...

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 Covid-19 pandemic has induced a major shift in Carolina Zuheill Rosales’ career. This internal medicine doctor founded Guimedic in 2011, when she was 25. Through its mobile clinics, this NGO provides medical consultations in remote and poor areas throughout Mexico. The main focus is to treat indigenous communities. Because of a structural lack of medical access to these populations, she has launched in March 2020 Promesa, a social business that is using artificial intelligence. ...

Bright and open-minded, this young American has already achieved a lot at just 28 years of age. Since February 2019, he has been serving as Legislative Assistant to Democratic Senator Liz Lovelett in Olympia, Washington. “Working for a senator whose values I share is really a dream come true,” he says. He sees Liz Lovelett as a role model, since “she leads with her heart and great values, always thinking on how we can infuse equity into everything we do.”  Jordan Kronen calls Washi ...

Bright and open-minded, this young American has already achieved a lot at just 28 years of old. Since February 2019, he has been serving as Legislative Assistant to Democratic Senator Liz Lovelett in Olympia, Washington. “Working for a senator whose values I share is really a dream come true,” he says. He sees Liz Lovelett as a role model, since “she leads with her heart and great values, always thinking on how we can infuse equity into everything we do.” Jordan Kronen calls Washin ...

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 ...

“Out of the Eurocentric box” This young planner and lecturer at the Departement of International Urbanism of the University of Stuttgart (Germany) spontaneously describes himself as a “Marrakchi, ambitious and curious” person. His birthplace and family’s influence matter a lot in his professional journey. Not only because the Red City is “an inspiring place for its history, architecture and culture”, but also because his grandfather was a well-established tile maker, who participat ...

“Your environment, an opportunity for skills” Born in Kenya, Vicky Ngari reluctantly followed her mother in the United Kingdom when she was 10. She didn’t want to leave Nairobi, where she nurtured as a child a fascination for clothes, garments and dancing. As the years passed, she never severed ties with Kenya, nor Africa. In Brighton and London, she studied Film and TV, then creative writing, majoring in sociology and journalism. She realized during her first year at University t ...

« Passionate, Black, visionary » Ana Paula Barreto talks about serious matters with great calm, taking time to reflect before answering questions, from New York. Born in Jardim Angela, a poor area of São Paulo, considered as the most dangerous neighbourhood in the world by the United Nations in 1996, she remembers the violence of the favelas. She doesn’t want to reduce her childhood « in a joyful family » to « the ugly », but one of her strongest memories is seeing the bodies of pe ...

“Fathom the incredible, create the crazy” His warmth comes as naturally as his strong sense of empathy, obvious from the first encounter. No coincidence there: since his childhood, Kheston Walkins has a “fascination with the human brain” and its infinite possibilities. He spent time reading Encyclopedias and dictionaries when he was a child, rather than novels and history books. His mother, a teacher, “exchanged her sleep for our survival”, he says about his family, which has no sc ...

Born in 1984 in Peru and trained as a scientist, Clarissa Rios Rojas has a PhD in molecular biology, but also a clear taste for exploring beyond her field to see the bigger picture. She is since March 2020 a Research Associate at the Center for the Study of Existential Risk, launched by the Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. “The Center is very multi-disciplinary, with philosophers, astronomers, lawyers, economists, and educators, working on the management of global catast ...

He is a young man like no other. One can spot him easily in a crowd by the way he dresses and addresses the issues with which he is concerned. Leonardo Párraga, an award-winning social entrepreneur and alternative education activist, was born in Colombia with the soul of an artist. He writes poetry, engages with photography, and finds inspiration in the writings of Walt Whitman, whom he describes as the poet of “interconnectedness”. At 25, he left Bogotá for Harvard University, for ...

Born and raised in Romania, but of Hungarian ethnicity Scarlett Varga is since January 2020 the head of development at Bruegel. In other words, she is in charge of the fundraising strategy of this leading European economics think tank, launched in 2005 in Brussels. Her position is highly strategic, as she is member of the organisations’ management and contributes to a 6 million Euros yearly budget, safeguarding Bruegel’s core values of   independence and transparency. Leading a te ...