Atlantic Community:Us

About the Atlantic Initiative

The Atlantic Initiative (German: Atlantische Initiative e.V.) is a non-partisan, non-profit, and independent organization founded in Berlin in 2004. It concentrates on building and strengthening a strategic community and a culture of constructive foreign policy debate. We believe that a strong partnership between America and Europe is crucial to defending our common interests and values. Our key goal is therefore to broaden understanding and discussion of the issues affecting transatlantic relations through a variety of projects, both online and offline.

We seek to:

Spread the message that today's transatlantic agenda is global: from climate change to failed states, from terrorism to the financial crisis, Europe and America must develop common policy to face new global challenges.
Promote frank debate and intellectual exchange between Europe and North America on issues of foreign policy.
Support and advance future leaders through networking opportunities that link students and young professionals with senior decision-makers and experts.
Analyze and communicate the complex challenges of the twenty-first century in a way that is accessible to everyone.

Our Projects

atlantic-community.org

Atlantic-community.org was launched in April, 2007, as the first online foreign policy think tank, and focuses specifically on issues affecting transatlantic relations. It is a joint project of Atlantische Initiative e.V. and Atlantic Initiative U.S. The aim of the website is to promote open and constructive debate, encouraging people of diverse backgrounds – not only from Europe and North America – to participate in developing solutions online. We especially want to make a new generation of thinkers and young leaders heard, giving them the opportunity to publish and debate side by side with established experts. For more information see our mission statement.

The website operates as a continuous online conference. Members register with a personal profile, similar to social media sites, and are able to contact their peers through the website. Users can actively engage in setting the transatlantic agenda through structured debate on the most important issues. In the Your Opinion section of the website op-eds written by members and edited by our staff are published on a daily basis. Readers comment on the ideas and suggestions presented in the articles, and the editorial staff then condenses the debates into Atlantic Memos – executive summaries that harness the collective intelligence of the community, and present the best solutions and policy recommendations. These memos are sent to policy-makers in over 27 countries in Europe and North America.

The section Your Research provides an outlet for unique and original research to impact policy debates. Atlantic-commuity.org presents a combination of MA and BA theses, term papers, think tank publications, and original research, allowing students’ work to be read by decision-makers and interested citizens around the world as well as their professors.

Additionally, the editorial team closely monitors the world's leading magazines and newspapers every day, and consolidates the best and most relevant opinion pieces into brief Top Press Commentary summaries to help our busy readers stay on top of the issues that matter most. Readers can see how the perspectives and priorities diverge in different regions. Atlantic-community.org also features interviews with movers and shakers in transatlantic affairs. These interviews illuminate what these experts do, how they think, and how they contribute to current foreign policy.

Global Must Reads

In addition to atlantic-community.org, we produce a monthly German and English language service called Global Must Reads. This is a premium selection of studies and analyses from over 50 American and European sources (Think Tanks, magazines, and journals), which are concisely summarized for our readers. Global Must Reads is sent in PDF-format to more than 15,000 decision-makers in politics, economics, the media and academia. This makes Global Must Reads the most widely distributed foreign policy publication in the German language. The English version of the Global Must Reads is available on atlantic-community.org as Best of Think Tanks.

Events

The Atlantic Initiative organizes several event series in Berlin, such as Atlantic Happy Hour – Security Policy out of the Box, an innovative and accessible forum for addressing current security policy issues created in cooperation with NATO. Another example, out of several, is the Atlantic Lunch Club. In cooperation with the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) we host regular discussion groups, both informal and high profile, at the Atlantic Initiative’s offices.

Other event series include Understanding America, a closer look at political, societal, and cultural (media) trends that drive the "indispensable nation's” leaders and the Future of the West, comparing societal trends in Europe and North America.

Task Forces

The Atlantic Initiative sets up virtual task forces to examine key issues of today’s transatlantic agenda. The goal of the task forces is to advise governments, international organizations, business, and NGOs on specific questions of international relations and to produce actionable policy recommendations.

Choosing the best experts available on a given topic, we assemble an international, interdisciplinary group of top academics and thought leaders in their respective fields. Our first task force, on "Global Green Recovery,” was conducted for the German Foreign Service's Policy Planning Group and brought together climate experts, policymakers, clean technology business leaders, and investors from Germany, the UK, and the US in our virtual conference format. Drawing upon their collective intelligence these experts jointly developed recommendations on how G20 governments can best work with private business and investors to foster a global green technology market.

Awards

New Media Prize of the RIAS Berlin Commission

The RIAS Berlin Commission awarded its New Media Prize to the publishers of atlantic-community.org in July 2008, and praised it as a "platform for convening transatlantic exchange, possible only with the availability of the Internet.” The RIAS Berlin Commission rewards "radio, TV and Internet productions which made special contributions to the mutual understanding between the people of Germany and of the United States of America.”

A Landmark in the Land of Ideas

In January 2009 atlantic-community.org was selected as a "Landmark in the Land of Ideas.” Germany: Land of Ideas is a shared initiative of the German government and commerce and industry represented by the Federation of German Industries (BDI) and leading corporations, under the patronage of Federal President Horst Köhler. The competition seeks to award places where innovation, new talent, new ideas, and constructive curiosity are prevalent – the very principles upon which atlantic-community.org bases its work. To celebrate the award, the editorial team hosted a special panel discussion on Web 2.0 and the future of political participation.

Speaker & Dialogue Award

Atlantic-community.org was awarded the prestigious "Speaker and Dialogue Award” (Redner- und Dialogpreis) by the Initiative ProDialog. Atlantic-community.org was recognized in the "Best Dialogue in Civil Society" category. Kerstin Plehwe, the Chairperson of Initiative ProDialog said that atlantic-community.org had shown "the ability of dialogue to promote participation and cooperation. In times of crisis the key to successful communication is to create trust and understanding.”

The Team

Founding Directors

Dr. Johannes Bohnen studied international relations at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and received his doctorate degree from Oxford University. Following positions with several think tanks, the German Bundestag and the German government, he was founder and managing director of Scholz & Friends Agenda, a public affairs agency in Berlin. Johannes is a partner at Bohnen Kallmorgen & Partner, a consultancy for policy analysis and strategic communications in Berlin.

Jan-Friedrich Kallmorgen is trained as an historian and holds a master's degree from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. He has worked in journalism and as a business consultant in Washington, D.C., and was an investment manager with Goldman, Sachs & Co from 2000 to 2003. From 2004 to 2007 he served as head of the Transatlantic Program at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) and is now a partner at Bohnen Kallmorgen & Partner, a consultancy for policy analysis and strategic communications in Berlin.

Staff

Joerg Wolf is project manager and editor-in-chief of atlantic-community.org. Jörg studied political science at the Free University of Berlin and worked as a research associate for the International Risk Policy project at the Free University's Center for Transatlantic Foreign and Security Policy. He has been a Fulbright Scholar at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Washington D.C. and has worked for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Cairo and in Berlin. He can be reached at: wolf AT atlantic-community DOT org.

Jason Naselli is managing editor of atlantic-community.org. Jason holds an MSc in International Relations from the University of Essex and a BA in Politics and Journalism from New York University. He has previously worked in communications for New York City political campaigns at the state and local level, an international law firm, and US television network NBC. His research interests include nuclear proliferation and the role of culture in foreign policy. He can be reached at: naselli AT atlantic-community DOT org.

Mathew Shearman is an editor of atlantic-community.org. Mathew holds an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and BA History from Oxford University. His research focuses primarily on German Foreign Policy and Europe. He has previously worked for Millennium: Journal of International Studies and currently edits europeandme.eu

Joshua Clapp is an editor of atlantic-community.org. Joshua studied Political Science (BA) at St. Olaf College in the United States and European Studies (MA) at the University of Bath in England and Humboldt University in Germany. His Master's thesis analyzed the construction of energy security in the United States and Europe.

About Atlantic Initiative U.S.

The Atlantic Initiative U.S. was founded in May 2008. It's a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Washington, D.C.

Rüdiger Lentz is the president of Atlantic Initiative U.S. He studied international relations and history at the University of Hamburg and has been the Washington bureau chief and senior diplomatic correspondent for Deutsche Welle Radio and Television since January 1999. Prior to his assignment in Washington, he served as Deutsche Welle�s Brussels Bureau Chief. Before joining Deutsche Welle, Rüdiger worked as a correspondent for the German news magazine Der Spiegel and as a TV commentator and reporter at ARD/WDR. He is a visiting lecturer at Harvard University, UCLA, and the Federal Armed Forces University and a regular guest on CNN and C-Span.

Christopher Jurgens is a member of the board of Atlantic Initiative U.S. He is a senior manager at Accenture Development Partnerships and an accomplished speaker on non-profit consulting, global management, technology services and outsourcing. Accenture Development Partnerships is a non-profit organization that provides consulting services to donors, non-governmental organisations and other non-profit entities working in developing countries. He holds degrees from Georgetown and Miami University and has worked at the Office of the Secretary at the US Department of Transportation’s international affairs division.

Wess Mitchell is a member of the board of Atlantic Initiative U.S. He is director of research at The Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), a research institute dedicated to the study of Central Europe. Mitchell is a frequent contributor to leading American and European newspapers and journals and a regular speaker at transatlantic policy conferences and workshops. Mitchell was a policy analyst at the National Center for Policy Analysis and worked in the office of Texas Congressman Larry Combest. He holds an undergraduate degree in history and a master’s degree in German and European studies from Georgetown University; and a graduate certificate from the American Consortium on European Union Studies.

Advisory Board Members of the Atlantic Initiative

Dr. Rudolf Adam, German Embassy, Moskau
Prof. Dr. Arnulf Baring, Historian, Berlin
Dr. Christoph Bertram, Hamburg
Dr. Philipp v. Boehm-Bezing, BBSC Boehm-Bezing, Sieger & Cie., Stuttgart
Dr. Mark Brzezinski, McGuireWoods, Washington, DC
Jürgen Chrobog, BMW Stiftung Herbert Quandt, Berlin
Thomas L. Farmer, American Bankers Association, Washington, D.C.
Dr. Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurt
Dr. Jeffrey Gedmin, Chief Executive Officer, Legatum Institute, London
Prof. Dr. Helga Haftendorn, Berlin
Dr. John C. Hulsman, President, John C. Hulsman Enterprises
Dr. Michael J. Inacker, Metro AG, Berlin
Dr. Jackson Janes, Director, American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, Washington, D.C.
Marvin Kalb, Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
Dr. Walther Leisler Kiep, Chairman Emeritus, Atlantik-Brücke, Berlin
Eckart von Klaeden, Minister of State at the Federal Chancellery, Berlin
Hans-Ulrich Klose, Member of Parliament, Committee on Foreign Relations, Berlin
John Kornblum, Chairman Lazard Germany, Berlin
Dr. Charles Kupchan, Council on Foreign Relations, Washington, D.C.
Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, Member of European Parliament, Brussels
Dr. Kurt J. Lauk, Chairman, CDU Business Council (Wirtschaftsrat), Berlin
Dr. Beate Lindemann, Executive Vice-Chairmann, Atlantik-Forum, Berlin
Heike MacKerron, Senior Director for Europe, German Marshall Fund of the United States, Berlin
Dr. Norbert Otten, Direktor Policy Issues, Daimler AG, Stuttgart
Cem Özdemir, Chairman Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Berlin
Ruprecht Polenz, Member of Parliament, Chairman Committee on Foreign Relations, Berlin
Avi Primor, Former Israeli Ambassador to Germany, Tel Aviv
Andrew Rasiej, Founder and Publisher, Personal Democracy Forum, New York
Prof. Dr. Eberhard Sandschneider, Director, German Council on Foreign Relations, Berlin
Prof. Dr. H.c. Horst M. Teltschik, Former President Boeing Germany, Berlin
Karsten D. Voigt, Former Coordinator of German-American Cooperation, Foreign Office, Berlin
Lord Wallace, House of Lords, London