Rik Coolsaet
Biography
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Rik Coolsaet is Professor Emeritus of International Relations at Ghent University (Belgium) and Senior Associate Fellow at Egmont Institute.
He was chair of the Department of Political Science at Ghent University from 2006 to 2014. He served as Director of the ‘Security & Global Governance’ Programme at the Egmont Institute. In the 1980s and 1990s, he held several high-ranking official positions, such as deputy chief of the Cabinet of the Belgian Minister of Defence and deputy chief of the Cabinet of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
His areas of expertise are international relations, diplomacy and Belgian foreign policy, and terrorism and radicalisation.
He published the first comprehensive study on the history of Belgian foreign policy since the creation of the kingdom in 1830 (Belgium and its foreign policy, in Dutch by Van Halewyck, 2015, 6th rev., and partly in French by De Boeck, 2002). With Vincent Dujardin and the late Claude Roosens, he published in 2014 the history of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Les Affaires étrangères au service de l’Etat belge, de 1830 à nos jours (Mardaga) and, in Dutch, Buitenlandse Zaken in België. Geschiedenis van een ministerie, zijn diplomaten en zijn consuls van 1830 tot vandaag (Lannoo). With Duco Hellema and Bart Stol, he authored an edited volume on the Dutch-Belgian bilateral relations since 1945 (Nederland-België. De Belgisch-Nederlandse betrekkingen vanaf 1940, Boom, 2011).
Since 2003, he has conducted research on terrorism and radicalization. He was a member of the original European Commission Expert Group on Violent Radicalisation (established 2006) and the subsequent European Network of Experts on Radicalisation (ENER). His Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalisation Challenge. European and American Experiences (Ashgate, 2011) was included in the 2012 ‘Top 150 Books on Terrorism and Counterterrorism’ by Perspectives on Terrorism. His publications have focused on, inter alia, the impact of 9/11 on Europe, the push and pull factors behind the contemporary foreign fighters phenomenon, the origins and drawbacks of the concept of ‘radicalisation’, and the post-Daesh landscape. Some of this research was released by the Egmont Institute. His latest contributions have been published by Oxford University Press (2022) and Routledge (2023, forthcoming).
Finally, he has also written extensively on international relations, mostly in Dutch. His Macht en Waarden in de Wereldpolitiek (Power and Values in World Politics, Academia Press) provided until 2015 for a yearly overview of major trends in global politics. A 2008 publication, De geschiedenis van de wereld van morgen (A History of Tomorrow’s World, Van Halewyck) aimed at exploring the past in order to identify what the future could look like, both in global politics and our daily lives – no watertight barrier existing between both. His follow-up publication Vergeet dat onze tijd zoveel complexer is dan alles wat ooit voorafging (Tomorrow’s World Is Not That Much More Complex Than Yesterday’s World, Kritak 2021) again took stock of the consequences of the simultaneous emergence of a multipolar world order and of a middle-class society.
Publications
- ‘Radicalisation’ and ‘Countering Radicalisation’: The Emergence and Expansion of a Contentious Concept External publications
- Theorizing Radicalization and Violent Extremism External publications
- What the Zeitgeist can Tell us About the Future of Terrorism External publications
- Waarom economische sancties (maar niet willen) werken External publications
- When Do Individuals Radicalize? External publications
- Souveraineté et indépendance nationale. La Belgique et le transfert de souveraineté vers des organisations internationales External publications
- From bad to worse: The fate of European foreign fighters and families detained in Syria, one year after the Turkish offensive Security Policy Briefs
- Foreign Fighters trials in Syria: not a solution Commentaries
- Foreign Fighters and the Terrorist Threat in Belgium Commentaries
- Zijn we de greep op terugkeerders kwijt? Commentaries
- New figures on European nationals detained in Syria and Iraq Commentaries
- Losing control over returnees? Commentaries
- Terrorismes et radicalisations à l’ère post-Daech External publications
- Radicalization: the origins and limits of a contested concept External publications
- Power and rules in world politics: Von Clausewitz, Wilhelm II and Trump against Grotius, Wilson and Rietjens External publications
- Radicalisation. A marginal phenomenon or a mirror to society ? External publications
- The Belgian secret services get out of the shadows Commentaries
- Ce que l’attentat contre Léopold II nous enseigne sur le terrorisme moderne Commentaries
- Children in the Levant: Insights from Belgium on the dilemmas of repatriation and the challenges of reintegration Security Policy Briefs
- The Homecoming of Foreign Fighters in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium: Policies and Challenges Commentaries
- Reassessing Belgium’s “Failed” Counterterrorism Policy Commentaries
- How Belgium overcame the threat from returning foreign terrorist fighters Commentaries
- Returnees: who are they, why are they (not) coming back and how should we deal with them? Assessing policies on returning foreign terrorist fighters in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands Egmont papers
- Europe : Les racines du jihadisme sont toujours présentes External publications
- Anticipating the Post-ISIS Landscape in Europe External publications
- Anticipating the post-Daesh landscape Egmont papers
- Deradicaliseringsbeleid en de IS-generatie External publications
- ‘All radicalisation is local’. The genesis and drawbacks of an elusive concept Egmont papers
- Facing the fourth foreign fighters wave. What drives Europeans to Syria, and to Islamic state? Insights from the Belgian case Egmont papers
- Will the foreign fighters issue ever end? Commentaries
- What drives Europeans to Syria, and to IS? Insights from the Belgian case Egmont papers
- Belgian Foreign Policy: in search of a new course Commentaries
- Mali: another European intervention without the EU? Security Policy Briefs
- Ontslagnemend Belgisch buitenlands beleid External publications
- De wereld na Bin Laden Commentaries
- De patstelling in het Afghaanse ‘oorlogje’ Commentaries
- Recente strategische ontwikkelingen m.b.t. België’s resterende kerntaak External publications
- Terroristen zijn amateurs Commentaries
- Als een bom in Afghanistan Commentaries
- Atlantic loyalty, European autonomy. Belgium and the Atlantic alliance 1949-2009 Egmont papers
- Obama moet bescheiden zijn Commentaries
- The Georgia-Russia stalemate: do’s and don’ts External publications
- In de voetsporen van de tsaren… of van Bismarck? Rik Coolsaet over Georgië, Rusland en het negentiende-eeuwse Pruisen Commentaries
- Jihadi terrorism and the radicalisation challenge in Europe Books
- Belgium and counterterrorism policy in the Jihadi Era (1986-2007) Egmont papers
- Eb en vloed in 60 jaar Nederlands-Belgische betrekkingen External publications
- Radicalisation and Europe’s counter-terrorism strategy External publications
- Between al-Andalus and a failing integration Europe’s pursuit of a long-term counterterrorism strategy in the post-al-Qaeda era Egmont papers
- Al-Qaeda tussen mythen en realiteit External publications
- Vol. LVII: Issue 3 (2004): La Belgique et sa politique étrangère: 2002-2004 Studia Diplomatica
- Global governance: the next frontier, a concept on global governance as a guide for a new ambition in international diplomacy Egmont papers
- A European security concept for the 21st century, a Belgian contribution to a comprehensive EU security strategy Egmont papers
- The world is the stage: a global security strategy for the European Union External publications
- Vol. LV, Issue 3 (2002): Core Group, Directoire, enhanced co-operation? Finding the key to an effective foreign and defence policy for Europe Studia Diplomatica
- Vol. LIV, Issue 5-6 (2001): Buitenlandse politiek in België. Politique étrangère en Belgique anno 2002 Studia Diplomatica