With the policy workshop competition "Your Ideas, Your NATO", we challenged students and young professionals from throughout NATO Member and Partner countries to come up with innovative policy ideas for NATO's 2012 Summit in Chicago. Editor-in-Chief Joerg Wolf looks at the process, participation, reception, and impact of the competition in this video:
More About the Competition
"Your Ideas, Your NATO" was as much about the process as about the result. Through our collaborative design, where participants from around the globe had to directly challenge each other's ideas and then come together to form a consensus, we mimicked real policy-making conditions and mechanisms. By participating in such a workshop, young people were able to get a better appreciation of the challenges and gain a sense of ownership with the Alliance.
This was an inclusive competition. Policy recommendations were evaluated on the quality, support and uniqueness of their ideas, and we worked to ensure that both native and non-native English speakers competed on the same level. Our expert jury of academics and think tankers included Prof. Colette Mazzucelli from New York University, Dr. Christian Mölling from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Mr. Giuseppe Belardetti from the Atlantic Treaty Association, and Dr. Jorge Benitez from the Atlantic Council (US).
For more from the competition, including the full policy memos, participant articles, media coverage, winner presentations, decision maker feedback, and photos from the event in Berlin, see below. For the original questions asked in each category, see the launch article.
Atlantic Memos
In addition to Memos 38, 39, and 40 from the shortlisted teams, the editorial team compiled three additional policy articles, one from each category, from the remaining policy proposals. These are included in Memo 41.
Memo 38 (Category 1) - One NATO: Strengthening Unity through Transparency and Engagement
Memo 39 (Category 2) - Partners in Democracy, Partners in Security: NATO and the Arab Spring
Memo 40 (Category 3) - Get "Smart": Paving the Way to a More Efficient Alliance
Memo 41 - Looking Beyond Chicago: How to Revitalize NATO
Shortlisted Articles and Additional Policy Ideas
Category 1: Values and Community
Category 2: Partnerships after the Arab Spring
Category 3: Smart Defense
Media Coverage
The Buzz about "Your Ideas, Your NATO"
Winner Presentations
Insights from the Next Generation: The Presentations
Decision Maker Feedback
Philip Murphy, US Ambassador to Germany (video from event)
Stefanie Babst, NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy (recorded video)
Additional Policy Makers (text)
Event Photos
Sponsors
The competition was made possible through generous contributions from the NATO Public Diplomacy Division, the US Mission to Germany, and the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
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