Highlights

Thematic Areas

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Democracy

Democratic decline in the U.S. and Europe is weakening the transatlantic relationship and undermining its influence around the world. America and its European allies need to recalibrate their values and practices at home in order to serve as beacons to aspiring democracies abroad. But disruptions to our democratic traditions keep emerging: from new technologies changing the way we communicate and work to pandemics and economic shocks. Our work analyzes how these disruptions are playing out, and it will be up to civil society, lawmakers, and the people to prepare our democracies for the future.

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Politics & Society

As crises and trade disputes escalate, accompanied by the ascendancy of populist movements and fraying international alliances, a notable geopolitical shift is underway, causing a growing divergence between the United States and its European counterparts. We closely monitor the evolving dynamics of the transatlantic relationship, analyzing how political landscapes and societal responses on both sides of the Atlantic are adapting to the complex global challenges of the 21st century. Our analysis, web-based tools, crowd-sourced forecasting and multimedia content from short explainer videos to full-length documentaries bring these challenges to the fore, conveying both the personal impact and the broader geopolitical implications of the forces shaping transatlantic politics and societies.

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Future Leadership

Leaders around the world have been forced to grapple with a series of unfamiliar threats to domestic and international stability. From the COVID-19 pandemic to right-wing populism and escalating state-sponsored and rogue cyberattacks, the need for effective leadership at this moment is critical. This can only be achieved through international exchange, idea-sharing, and learning from prior successes and failures of transatlantic leadership. Through research, polling, and our transatlantic legislative exchange program, the Bertelsmann Foundation Fellowship (BFF), we seek to foster stronger transatlantic ties through a deeper mutual understanding.

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Digital World

Around the world, humanity navigates a digital revolution that’s upending life as we know it. And while the United States and Europe are the nexus of the world's data flows and digital trade for now, the rest of the world is expanding digital output exponentially. It’s now more essential than ever that the conversation about these changes be inclusive. A successful transition to a digital world requires input from all sectors of society. Through analysis, data visualization, and documentary storytelling, we bring you inside the issues shaping today's global digital economy and society.

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Updates

Future Leadership

From Idea to Impact

How Transatlantic Rights Philosophies Shape Innovation

“Americans innovate while Europeans regulate.” This old trope misses a fundamental point. Both peoples are actually powerhouses of innovation. But it is their respective fundamental societal beliefs in individual and government responsibility that steer their creative energies in different paths.

Politics & Society

United in Division

Perspectives on 35 Years of German Reunification

Germany celebrates 35 years of unity on October 3, 2025, following 41 years of division as the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). In the last three decades, substantial progress has been made to foster German unity culturally, economically...

Democracy

Pianissimo:

Brussels’ Silence on Italy’s Democratic Decline

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, once heralded as a danger to EU cohesion, has become Brussels’ favored bridge-builder.

Digital World

Where Online Meets Offline

Social Media's Double-edged Sword

Young people have grown up alongside social media platforms and many have never known a world without them. Teens and young adults are often very intentional about what they post on social media and how they present themselves on each platform. Social media allows users to carefully curate content...

Digital World

Democracy Needs Tech Support

Technological development offers seemingly endless benefits and convenience. Internet connectivity was critical for personal and professional interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic, and, more broadly, everyday emerging technology is saving lives, whether from 3D printed organs or automatic brakes...

Digital World

E-Stonia Rewired

A Nation Transformed from Cyberattack Victim to Cybersecurity Leader

In April 2007, the Estonian government approved a controversial plan to relocate a statue from the center of its capital, Tallinn. Soviet authorities had unveiled the monument, a life-sized World War II Russian soldier with a clenched right fist and a bowed head, 60 years earlier, after their forces...

BFNA Docs Highlights

Out of the Darkness

Transforming Public Spaces in Barcelona (2025, 19 minutes)

Out of the Darkness follows the transformation of Barcelona’s once-oppressive sites into vibrant centers of civic participation and democratic renewal

Still Here

Preserving Native American Communities in Minneapolis (2024, 22 Minutes)

In Minneapolis, one of the largest urban Native American communities in the U.S. fights to preserve its languages, cultures, and histories while building civic power through grassroots organizations.

Rising Voices

(2024, 21 minutes)

In Vienna, Rising Voices follows young students partnering with city leaders to shape their neighborhoods, showing how even five-year-olds can spark lasting democratic change.

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