Commentaries
Ukraine: The Price of Stability
The first question in the ongoing crisis about Ukraine is not “What will Putin do?”, but “What do we want?”. We, that is the European Union and its Member States. […]
Europe in the World
In a world that is largely driven by competition and rivalry (and partnership, yet) between great powers, understanding the Grand Strategy of each of these powers is crucial. So is developing a Grand Strategy for the EU itself. An EU that acts as one, as one pole of the multipolar world on a par with the other powers, is the only way to safeguard the way of life that the Member States of the EU have chosen, based on democracy, the free market, and equality.
Power cannot be divided: a global player must have political, economic, as well as military power. To that end, the Europe in the World Programme analyses the diplomacy and defence of the US, China, and Russia, and of the EU, NATO, and their members. We also focus on geoeconomics, researching Open Strategic Autonomy and the Global Gateway as key EU instruments, as well as the geoeconomic approaches of the other powers.
Defence policy is our third main axis of research, with a particular focus on European defence and its interaction with NATO, but also on nuclear deterrence and the deterrence of hybrid threats. Throughout all three research axis, we devote special attention to the role of Belgium, including notably the development of its own National Security Strategy and diplomatic and military capabilities.
Publications
Nuclear Sharing and NATO as a ‘Nuclear Alliance’
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO’s) capstone document, its 2010 Strategic Concept, explicitly stated that ‘as long as nuclear weapons exist, NATO will remain a nuclear alliance’. This wording put […]
A versatile organisation: Mapping the military’s core roles in a changing security environment
What roles are military institutions expected to play in today’s rapidly changing security environment? How are they supposed to interact with the society they are tasked to protect? These questions […]
Droit d’asile et libre circulation: Deux principes européens inséparables
Un an après sa proposition en septembre 2020 par la Commission, le Pacte sur la migration et l’asile serait-il déjà mort ? Le débat des experts permet de dégager une […]
The Eastern Mediterranean: Calm before the Storm in a Core European Strategic Zone
Four developments are converging to make the Eastern Mediterranean (EM) once again a core European strategic zone, very likely before it erupts, to the same degree perhaps as on March […]
European Defence Engagement in the Indo-Pacific: A View from Tokyo
The need for Japan to cooperate with like-minded partners has never been more urgent. There is no sign of China’s creeping and opportunistic expansion coming to an end. The latest […]