Commentaries
Ik weet wat quarantaine is. Zie het niet als onrecht en help elkaar
Ik weet wat quarantaine is. Elkaar helpen is de boodschap. Ik was zeven jaar. Het eerste leerjaar zat er voor mij net op. En plots veranderde alles, van de ene […]
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
Commentaries
Defence against the Coronavirus, or the Soldier and the Welfare State
Since my husband has taken to spraying the door handles with vodka, our apartment has begun to resemble Stalin’s politburo: you cannot leave when you want to, and there will […]
Commentaries
Human Rights matter more than ever in the Covid-19 era
In this commentary, Egmont senior researcher and affiliated senior researcher with the Leuven Institute of Criminology (University of Leuven) Valérie Arnould examines the human rights challenges the Covid-19 crisis poses […]
Commentaries
Why now is the time to get real on EU economic security
The coronavirus crisis exposed quite a few shortcomings in how governments deal with crises. Managing the vulnerabilities of dependencies is one of them. This article was first published in Encompass-Europe. […]
Commentaries
Take me to Your Leader! Or how the EU could emerge stronger from the Corona Crisis
Even the most dystopian science fiction novel usually is optimistic in one way: somehow humanity has always managed to create a planetary government. So when the aliens land and, true […]
Commentaries
Mainstreaming the Just Transition in the EU
The European Commission’s proposal for a ‘Just Transition Mechanism’ has rapidly become a contentious aspect of the European Green Deal. The mechanism supports the EU’s goal of achieving climate neutrality […]