Europe’s Path Back from The Fringe with Justin Gest

In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI's Thibault Muzergues is joined by Charles A. Kupchan to explore the history of isolationism in the United States and apply those lessons towards a broader conversation about the future of America, Europe, and transatlantic relations. Charles serves as a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and as a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of Government. From 2014 to 2017, he served as special assistant to the president and senior director for European affairs on the staff of the National Security Council in the Barack Obama administration. He was also a director for European affairs on the NSC during the first Bill Clinton administration. Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org Visit CFR's website at https://www.cfr.org/ Further reading: Isolationism: A History of America's Efforts to Shield Itself From the World by Charles A. Kupchan (https://www.cfr.org/book/isolationism)

5 Feb 202141min

Today, on January 20, 2021, President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn into the office of President of the United States of America. The 46thPresident will enter this position during a global pandemic that shook up international relations during an already contentious period around the world. On today’s episode of .think Atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues welcomes Damon Wilson to discuss President Biden’s foreign policy plan and the challenges, allies, successes, and strategies he may encounter in the next four years. Damon Wilson is an American foreign affairs advisor and analyst, as well as the current Executive Vice President at the Atlantic Council. Damon formerly served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council, where he played a leading role in developing and coordinating US government efforts to work with all European Nations, the EU, NATO, and the OSCE. Damon also has experience serving at the US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq as the Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff. Find Damon Wilson on Twitter at @DamonMacWilson Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter at @tmuzergues Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org

20 Jan 202139min

David Goodhart divides human aptitudes into three: Head (cognitive), Hand (manual and craft), and Heart (caring, emotional). It's common sense that a good society needs to recognize the value of all three. The coronavirus pandemic taught us something we ought already to have known: that care workers, supermarket shelf-stackers, delivery drivers, and cleaners are doing essential work that keeps us all alive, fed, and cared for. Until recently much of this work was regarded as menial by the same society that now lauds them as 'key workers'. Why are they so undervalued? And have smart people become too powerful? In this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues and his guest David Goodhart debate all these questions - and many more. David is a British journalist, think-tanker, author, and the head of the Demography, Immigration and Integration Unit at the London-based think-tank Policy Exchange. He worked for the Financial Times for twelve years before founding Prospect magazine in 1995. He is most famous for his book “The Road to Somewhere,” which was a Sunday Times best-seller and lays out a compelling framework for understanding the new political cleavages that we are seeing in politics today. Find David Goodhart on Twitter at @David_Goodhart Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter at @tmuzergues Further reading: Head Hand Heart: The Struggle for Dignity and Status in the 21st Century by David Goodhart (https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/313/313407/head-hand-heart/9780141990415.html) Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org

8 Jan 202135min

The year 2020 has been highly disruptive and the pandemic has had far-reaching political consequences beyond the health crisis, including in terms of democracy and civil liberties. What does this year tell us about the health of our democracies? How do we bring back a balance between civil liberties and the necessity of public order? What should be the common strategy to respond to the aggressive behavior of the Chinese Communist Party? What will be the three major developments we should be looking for in 2021? In this last episode .think atlantic of the year, IRI's Thibault Muzergues is joined by IRI’s president Dan Twining to look back at the year 2020 and try and make sense of it all. Dan Twining has been the President of IRI since 2017. Before that, he served as counselor to the president and director of the Asia Program at The German Marshall Fund of the United States, based in Washington, DC. As a counselor, he served on the executive management team that governs GMF’s annual operations; as director of the Asia Program, he led a team working on the rise of Asia and its implications for the West. Prior to GMF, Twining served as a member of the U.S. Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, as a foreign policy advisor to U.S. Senator John McCain. Find Dan on Twitter at @DCTwining Find Thibault on Twitter at @tmuzergues Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org

18 Des 202040min

On Sunday, Romania will take to the polls for its parliamentary elections. While an election during a pandemic introduces unique aspects on its own, in these elections, many will be watching to see how shifting attitudes towards political parties throughout the past decade will shape the results. In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI's Thibault Muzergues and his guest Siegfried Mureșan discuss the key factors expected to play a role in the Romanian elections. Siegfried Mureșan is a Member of European Parliament for Romania and has served as Vice-Chair of the European People's Party since November 2019. Siegfried is a member of the National Liberal Party in Romania and was first elected to European Parliament in 2014. Find Siegried on Twitter at @SMuresan Find Thibault on Twitter at @tmuzergues Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org

4 Des 202037min

The EU and UK are in the final stages of negotiations on a possible post-Brexit trade deal, although differences remain. In this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI's Thibault Muzergues and his guest Andrew Bowie discuss not only Brexit and latter Britain’s place in the world, but also the future of Scotland and one-nation Conservatism. Andrew Bowie is a Scottish Conservative Party politician and since the 2017 general elections a Member of Parliament for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine. Since 2019, Andrew also serves as a Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party. Find Andrew on Twitter at @AndrewBowie_MP Find Thibault on Twitter at @tmuzergues Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org

20 Nov 202036min

The suspense is over, and Joe Biden is President-Elect of the United States. In this episode of .think Atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues and his guests Kristen Soltis Anderson and Brian Berry try to make sense of the election results and discuss what the future of America and its party system is going to look like. What were the groups that shifted the elections? What kind of presidency can we expect of President-Elect Joe Biden? Is the Republican party going to transform itself into a working-class party? What is the future of the Democratic party? Kristen Soltis Anderson is a pollster, speaker, and commentator. She is also the co-founder of polling and public opinion firm Echelon insight, and the author of “The Selfie Vote” about Millenials and their political preferences. Brian Berry is a Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Global Officer at The Strategy Group Company. Brian has years of experience in US elections and served as campaign manager in many successful races for Governor and U.S. Senator. He was executive director of a state political party, served as Southwestern Regional Director for the Republican National Committee, and held the post of Regional Political Director on two Presidential campaigns. Visit IRI’s website at www.iri.org Find Kristen on Twitter at@KSoltisAnderson Find Thibault on Twitter at @tmuzergues

14 Nov 202052min

In this week of electoral frenzy in the United States, .think atlantic host Thibault Muzergues sits down with his guest Bruno Maçães, author of History has Begun: The Birth of a New America to reflect on the trajectory of the United States in the long-term, with a historical, philosophical, cultural but also political perspective. What is the cultural and political relationship between America and Europe, how is America defining (or rather redefining) its identity, culture and politics in a changing world, and what does the future hold, irrespective of the result of the Presidential Elections? These and many other questions are the subject of this conversation between two Europeans deeply attached to America and the Transatlantic Relationship. Bruno Maçães is a non-resident senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a senior advisor at Flint Global and a senior fellow at Renmin University of China. Formerly Portugal’s Europe minister (2013–15), he has been a regular commentator for CNN, the BBC and Al Jazeera, and has written for the Financial Times, The Guardian and Foreign Affairs. He is the author of History Has Begun, The Dawn of Eurasia, and Belt and Road: A Chinese World Order. Find Bruno on Twitter at @MacaesBruno Find Thibault on Twitter at @tmuzergues Further reading: History has Begun: The birth of a new America by Bruno Macaes (https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/history-has-begun/)

3 Nov 202038min