Atlantische Initiative/ Atlantic Initiative

About the Atlantic Initiative
Projects
Awards
Team
About Atlantic Initiative U.S.
Advisory Board Members of the Atlantic Initiative
Founding Members of the Atlantic Initiative

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.

Deutschlands Agenda

The German-language blog Deutschlands Agenda, launched in November, is the Atlantic Initiative´s most recent project. Like atlantic-community.org, this platform concentrates on foreign policy; however, it especially aims to raise awareness as well as strengthen the debate on German foreign policy issues. In an ever more connected world, foreign policy factors have to be taken into account while making national policy decisions. By explaining these interactions as well as initiating a discussion on the topic between citizens, politicians and opinion leaders, Deutschlands Agenda looks to accustom citizens to the global context of decisions. By appealing especially to the younger generation and the blogging community, it not only wishes to deepen citizen´s participation, but also to actively and sustainably frame the German political dialogue and to eventually create a strong strategic community in Germany. As atlantic-community.org does successfully since 2007, Deutschlands Agenda will condense fruitful discussions into executive briefings (Memos) and send them for consideration to key decision makers.

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.

Amrit Naresh is an editor at atlantic-community.org. Amrit studied Comparative Literature and German Studies (B.A.) at the University of California, Los Angeles, with an emphasis on German intellectual history and foreign policy. He was recently a Fulbright Scholar in journalism at the Free University of Berlin, where he wrote on German energy policy and international relations.

Yan Matusevich is an editor at atlantic-community.org. Yan studied Political Studies and International Relations (B.A.) at Bard College in upstate New York. During his studies he received a DAAD Fellowship to spend a year studying European politics at Humboldt University in Berlin while conducting an independent research project on Russian-speaking immigrants in Germany. During his final year of studies at Bard, Yan completed a senior thesis on Central Asian migrant workers in Russia.

Jason Naselli is an editor at atlantic-community.org.  Jason studied Politics and Journalism (BA) at New York University and International Relations (MSc) at the University of Essex in England.  He previously worked in communications for political campaigns in New York City, an international law firm, and at NBC in Rockefeller Center.  His Master’s thesis analyzed mainstream and alternative theories of nuclear proliferation.

Björn Sacknieß is external consultant for atlantic-community.org. Björn studied Political Science, Public Policy and Modern European History at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität at Kiel and the Universidad de Cantabria in Spain. After finishing his Master’s degree, he volunteered in Ecuador at the newsdesk of Ecuavisa, the country’s leading television network. Björn has previously worked at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) and at Internationale Politik, a German political journal.

Nina Keim is an external consultant for the Atlantische Initiative. She studied communication at the University of Duisburg-Essen and at American University in Washington, D.C., where she concentrated on civic engagement and public diplomacy. Besides her studies, she worked in the field of public health, as well as for the journal “politik & kommunikation.” She was also active as a researcher for the Center for Social Media in Washington D.C. Upon graduation, she gathered additional experience as project manager for the German-American Heritage Museum in Washington D.C.

Carmelo Molina is a research fellow at atlantic-community.org. Carmelo studied Slavistic at Complutense University of Madrid. He was a scholar at Warsaw University and Adam-Mickiewicz University in Poland. He has worked at Nueva Revista, a Spanish political journal, and he has been visiting lecturer for the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt-Oder (Germany), and for the Jagiellonian University in Cracow (Poland). He is an officer of the Spanish Marine Corps Reserve, presently serving as an Intelligence Analyst.

About the 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 Welle¹s 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

Founding Members of the Atlantic Initiative

• Dr. Johannes Bohnen, Member of the Board, Atlantische Initiative, Berlin
• Jan-Friedrich Kallmorgen, Member of the Board, Atlantische Initiative, Berlin
• Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, Member of European Parliament, Brussels
• Björn Sackniess, Consultant, Berlin
• Dr. Christoph Schwegmann, Federal Ministry of Defense, Berlin
• Andrea Stürmer, Zurich Financial Services, Zurich
• Dr. Rüdiger C. Sura, Deutsche Bank AG, Berlin
• Jan Techau, Carnegie Europe, Brussels
• Dr. Philip Christian Wachs, Managing Director Haus Rissen, Hamburg
• Magnus Prinz zu Wied, Huntsman Materials & Effects, Basel
• Tobias Wolny, Deutsche BP, Berlin
• Lars Zimmermann, stiftung neue verantwortung, Berlin