Midterm Elections with Sean Tonner

In this episode of .think atlantic, Thibault Muzergues returns as host to talk to Jacob Heilbrunn about the past, present and future of Neoconservatism. Jacob Heilbrunn is the editor of the National Interest, and he has written extensively on foreign and domestic issues for most if not all major American news outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Affairs. His 2008 book "The Knew They Were Right" tells the story of origins and rise of neoconservatism in American politics. He is here to join us today to speak about his most recent article in Politico magazine ''Trumpian Conservatives Hold an ‘Emergency’ Meeting Over Russia'', which you can read here. Is neoconservatism getting back to center stage? Where did it come from, and when did it rise and fall from popularity in American foreign policy? How do neocon ideas help explain or understand the crisis in Ukraine? Listen for answers to these questions and more in this special episode. And keep in mind, the opinions expressed by Jacob, as well as all guests of .think atlantic are their own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of IRI. Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter @tmuzergues Find Jacob Heilbrunn on Twitter @jacobheilbrunn Find .think atlantic on Twitter @ThinkAtlantic Find IRI on Twitter @IRIglobal

15 Mai 202233min

In this episode of .think atlantic, International Republican Institute’s President Dan Twining is joined by Thibault Muzergues to talk about his latest book War in Europe? (available here) Thibault Muzergues is a Resident Program Director for the IRI's Transatlantic Strategy Division, based in Rome, Italy. In this capacity of Europe and EuroMed programming, he applies more than 20 years of experience working with political parties to preserve and promote democracy around the continent. He is the author of two books, most recently War in Europe? From Impossible War to Improbable Peace, and regularly contributes to French, English and Spanish-language media. Most importantly, he has been hosting .think atlantic for three seasons and counting! What was Thibault's motivation to write this book on war? Has peace in Europe always been more myth than reality? How to assess NATO's role over the past decades on the European continent? While Russia has waged a full-scale war on Ukraine, should we expect other tensions and conflicts to happen? What should be done over the Transatlantic space to face successfully current geopolitical threats? Listen for answers to these questions and more in this special episode. Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter @tmuzergues Find Dan Twining on Twitter @DCTwining Find .think atlantic on Twitter @ThinkAtlantic Find IRI on Twitter @IRIglobal

1 Mai 202230min

In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Isabelle Lasserre to talk about French foreign policy. Isabelle Lasserre is a journalist and the deputy editor of Le Figaro’s international coverage. A former war reporter, she was awarded the Diplomatic Press Prize in 1999 for her reporting on conflict in Kosovo and the Caucasus. Her latest book, Macron the Disruptor: The Foreign Policy of an Antisystem President, was published in January 2022. How does the French foreign policy establishment view the world? What are France’s international interests? In what areas of French foreign policy has Macron been the most disruptive? What has Macron tried to achieve with Russia? Has Macron’s attempt to center France in European policy succeeded? Has French foreign policy failed in Eastern Mediterranean and in Africa? What opportunities does France have to change the dynamics in those regions? What is the future of Franco-American relations? Find answers to these questions and more as France decides its presidential election. Find Isabelle Lassere on Twitter @ilasserre Find Thibualt Muzergues on Twitter @tmuzergues Find .think atlantic on Twitter @ThinkAtlantic Find IRI on Twitter @IRIglobal

18 Apr 202242min

In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Bruno Jeanbart to talk about upcoming French Presidential election (April 10-24). Bruno is Vice-President in charge of political research at OpinionWay, where ha has led the development of online polling - something on which OpinionWay is a pioneer company in Europe. He also wrote 5 years ago a great book, 'La Présidence Anormale', which looked back at the Presidency of François Hollande through the prism of public opinion. How to explain a new Macron-Le Pen duel? Why so much support for disruptors in French society? How to explain Macron's failure to build a stable political party over the past 5 years? Did the Russian war in Ukraine change the campaign? How to explain love-hate relationship of French with polls? Listen for answers to these questions and more in this special timely episode. Find Bruno Jeanbart on Twitter @bjeanbart Find OpinionWay on Twitter @opinionway and at www.opinion-way.com Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter @tmuzergues Find .think atlantic on Twitter @ThinkAtlantic Find IRI on Twitter @IRIglobal

3 Apr 202242min

In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Fabrizio Luciolli, Pascal Ausseur, Balkan Devlen and Olfa Hamdi to talk about the past, present and future of the Mediterranean space. As the Latin origins of the name suggest, the ''Sea between lands'' has seen hundreds of years of changes, developments, and plays a critical role in the security of Europe as we know it today. To delve into these topics, Thibault has a range of experts in this space on the show today. Pascal Ausseur is a retired admiral from the French Navy and the current General Director of the Mediterranean Foundation of Strategic Studies (FMES). Fabrizio Luciolli is the President of the Italian Atlantic Committee. Balkan Devlen is a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and Olfa Hamdi is an entrepreneur and founder of the Movement for the Third Republic in Tunisia. What can the transatlantic allies do to promote stability in the Mediterranean? What is the concept of enlarged Mediterranean? Should we brace ourselves for more tensions or on the contrary should we expect more cooperation between the allies in the field of Energy? What can the West do to regulate migration flows? Listen for answers to these questions and more in this Med Atlantic themed episode. Find Fabrizio Luciolli on Twitter @FWLuciolli Find Balkan Devlen on Twitter @BalkanDevlen Find Admiral Pascal Ausseur's FMES on Twitter @InstitutFMES Find Olfa Hamdi on Twitter @OlfaHaamdi Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter @tmuzergues Find .think atlantic on Twitter @ThinkAtlantic Find IRI on Twitter @IRIglobal

20 Mar 202256min

In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Solomiia Bobrovska and Maria Tomak to talk about war of aggression that Vladimir Putin is waging in Ukraine. Solomiia is a Ukrainian Member of Parliament, Deputy Head of Ukraine's Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and former Governor of Odessa region. Maria is a Ukrainian human right activist, journalist, co-ordinator and co-founder of the Media Initiative for Human Rights. She has been appointed by Volodymyr Zelensky as Head for the National Office of the Crimea Platform Department What is the situation and the morale on the ground? Is it an all-out attack on Ukraine or rather an extremely violent episode of a longer and larger aggression by Russia? Is the continuation of the Parliament's work a testimony of Ukraine's democratic resilience? What Ukraine does need from the West? What answer to people from the West who ask to stay as far from the war as possible? Listen for answers to these questions and more in this special timely episode. Find Solomiia Bobrovska on Twitter @Bobrovska_MP Find Maria Tomak on Twitter @MariaTomak Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter @tmuzergues Find .think atlantic on Twitter @ThinkAtlantic Find IRI on Twitter @IRIglobal

14 Mar 202236min

In this episode of .think atlantic, IRI’s Thibault Muzergues is joined by Jiri Kozak and Mantas Adomėnas -- Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs in the Czech Republic and Lithuania, respectively -- to talk about foreign policy changes in Central and Eastern Europe, including the region’s response to Russia’s undergoing invasion of Ukraine. What has changed in Czech and Lithuanian foreign policy since their new governments took office, and why? What relation does contemporary conservative foreign policy have to neoconservatism? What role can Central and Eastern European countries play in countering Russian aggression? How has Lithuania fared against Chinese economic coercion and what lessons can other CEE countries take from the experience? Listen for answers to these questions and more in this special timely episode. While you're here, remember to check out IRI’s recent report on candidate selection called “Standing Out from the Crowd,” including a chapter written by Adomėnas, on iri.org. Find Jiri Kozak on Twitter @Kozakj Find Mantas Adomėnas on Twitter @Adomenas Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter @tmuzergues Find .think atlantic on Twitter @ThinkAtlantic Find IRI on Twitter @IRIglobal

6 Mar 202241min

In this episode of .think atlantic, guest host Breanna Kerr is joined by Rebecca Pitsika, Dr. Benjamin Höhne, Thibault Muzergues, and Daniel Scaduto is discuss the findings and main themes from IRI’s newly released publication, “Standing Out from the Crowd: Political Parties’ Candidate (S)election in the Transatlantic World.” To describe and compare candidate (s)election approaches from both sides of the Atlantic, the publication presents case studies from 12 different countries, as well as a standalone summary chapter. Four of the publication's authors are interviewed in this episode to discuss their findings with Breanna. The first guest is Rebecca Pitsika, author of the case study on Greece, and CEO of People for Business. Rebecca has managed talent acquisitions for Greece’s New Democracy political party since 2016. The second guests is Dr. Benjamin Höhne, Deputy Director of the Institute for Parliamentary Research in Berlin and author of the Germany chapter. Thibault Muzergues, IRI’s Europe and Europe-Mediterranean Program Director authored the case study on France. And finally, IRI Senior Program Associate Daniel Scaduto authored the case study on candidate selection in the US. Which method of candidate (s)election is best for the U.S.? What about in France, Germany, Greece? Can a political party mix selection methods, and what on earth is the technocratic style? Find out the answers to these questions and more when you listen to our episode. And while you're here, read the full publication here. Find Benjamin Höhne on Twitter @BenHoeh Find Thibault Muzergues on Twitter @tmuzergues Find .think atlantic on Twitter @ThinkAtlantic Find IRI on Twitter @IRIglobal

20 Feb 202242min