Weaker together or weaker apart? Great power relations after the coronavirus
The coronavirus is a symmetrical threat: it hits everybody. How hard it hits depends in the first instance on the power of each and every state: the resilience of its […]
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
Give us the real PESCO, please!
With 47 projects adopted, there is a lot of activity in Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), the European Union’s mechanism for defence cooperation. However, the current projects do not effectively address […]
Commentaries
The Belt and Road Initiative. Foreword: Connectivity with Consent
In Brussels too, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is on every-body’s lips. On 27 September 2019, Japanese Prime Minister ShinzoAbe and outgoing Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker openedthe first EU-Asia […]
European Defence and PESCO: don’t waste the chance
There was a copious flow of polite conversation, at the end of which a tactful report was drawn up […] Thus we had arrived at those broad, happy uplands where […]
Commentaries
Victory in Europe: Remember, to Act
“Americans at that time [1945] – or at least we in Berlin – saw no reason why the Russian system of government and democracy as practised by the Western Allies […]
The end of ‘business as usual’? COVID-19 and the European Green Deal
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a clear and drastic effect on our daily lives and political priorities. But what implications does it have for the EU’s climate action and the […]