Sven Biscop

Biography

OUT NOW! "This Is Not a New World Order – Europe Rediscovers Geopolitics, from Ukraine to Taiwan" Published on 17 May 2024 by Owl Press. Order your copy here.

Prof. Dr. Sven Biscop read political sciences and obtained his PhD at Ghent University, where today he is a professor, lecturing on Belgian and European foreign and defence policy and on the grand strategy of the European Union and the other great powers. At Egmont, which he joined in 2002, he is the director of the Europe in the World Programme.

Sven is a Member of the Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences of Belgium. In 2015, on the occasion of its tenth anniversary, Sven was made an Honorary Fellow of the European Security and Defence College (ESDC), an EU agency where he lectures for diplomats, military and officials from all EU Member States. He is also a regular speaker at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels and at the People’s University of China in Beijing, where he is a Senior Research Fellow.

Sven further serves as Professorial Fellow at the United Nations University in Bruges, and as Senior Research Fellow of the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy and of the Baltic Defence College. He is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (UK) and of the Clausewitz Society (Germany), and chairs the jury of the annual Global Strategy PhD Prize, awarded by Egmont and the ESDC.

His latest book is This Is Not a New World Order – Europe Rediscovers Geopolitics, from Ukraine to Taiwan  (Owl Press, 2024).

Sven has been honoured with the cross of Commander of the Order of the Crown of the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Decoration of Honour of the Republic of Austria.

He lives in Brussels with his Taiwanese-Belgian husband Aberu, amidst a great many books, military paraphernalia, and chinoiseries. Unfortunately they travel too often to keep a cat.

Books

• Hoe de grootmachten de koers van de wereldpolitiek bepalen. Grand Strategy in 10 kernwoorden
  
• Grand Strategy in 10 Words. A guide to Great Power Politics in the 21st Century

Online presentations

• 10 November 2022 : EPRS Book Talk: Soft, smart, hard: What should the EU's grand strategy be in disruptive time? Watch the video.
• 27 May 2022: IBEI International Seminar: The Madrid Summit and the future of NATO
  Roundtable with Sven Biscop on "European security and the crisis of the international order". Watch the video.
• 15 Nov. 2020:  Sven Biscop was invited by the College of Europe (Bruges) to give the JEI Annual Lecture. The title of the lecture is "No Peace from Corona: Defining EU Strategy for the 2020s". Watch the video.
• 9 July 2020:  Webinar "EU Defence Cooperation after COVID-19", organised by YPFP Brussels.  Discussion with EDA Chief Executive Jirí Šedivý  and Sven Biscop who gave an academic analysis with regards to future of the EU defence. Read more.
• 18 May 2020: Video event  "The Strength of Democracies: The Atlantic Relationship During COVID-19", organised by The Hudson Institute.
  View the discussion on what democracies can do to bolster democratic principles and push back against authoritarian attempts to exploit COVID-19 for their illicit advantage. One of the speakers is Sven Biscop.  Read more.
• 23 April 2020:  Wat zal corona veranderen voor de internationale politiek? Bekijk de video van Sven Biscop.
  Voor het project Toekomst Talks van de Uitstraling Permanente Vorming (UPV), een door de Vlaamse Gemeenschap gesubsidieerde vorminstelling, reflecteren vooraanstaande wetenschappers en denkers over de vraag hoe wij, de samenleving, de politiek, enzovoort met de ervaring van deze coronacrisis verder moeten. Vandaag: Europakenner Sven Biscop van het Egmontinstituut.
• 6 Feb. 2020: Watch the recorded livestream event @nupinytt:  EU’s role in a more instable world – towards a shared Grand Strategy? Discussion with Sven Biscop on how will 2020 turn out for the Union, and what role will it pursue in the future?
• 15 May 2019: Watch the recorded livestream @diisdk: The EU as an emerging defence project with Sven Biscop #PESCO
• As part of the 2017 edition of the PONT Career Skills Training, Sven Biscop conducted a class on "how to write a policy brief". Find out more about PONT at: http://www.tepsa.eu  and watch the video on Youtube.

Publications

• Raiders of the lost art: strategy-making in Europe Security Policy Briefs (25-11-2012)
• The UK and European Defence: leading or leaving? External publications (22-11-2012)
• Permanent structured cooperation light: less formal, not less necessary External publications (19-11-2012)
• Military capabilities: from pooling & sharing to a permanent and structured approach Security Policy Briefs (2-09-2012)
• Routledge Handbook of European Security Books (10-08-2012)
• EU grand strategy: optimism is mandatory Security Policy Briefs (7-07-2012)
• Smart pooling for shared defence External publications (21-05-2012)
• Conclusion: from global disorder to an effective multilateral order: an agenda for the EU External publications (15-05-2012)
• The EU and emerging powers in the 21st century: how Europe can shape a new global order Books (15-05-2012)
• On to Chicago: Enter the European Union Commentaries (27-02-2012)
• Why America needs European Strategy Commentaries (23-02-2012)
• As the EU said at the NATO Summit Security Policy Briefs (7-02-2012)
• The Euro crisis and foreign Policy: Europe has an idea Commentaries (31-01-2012)
• An Arab springboard for EU foreign policy? Egmont papers (24-01-2012)
• Belgian defence policy: the fight goes on Security Policy Briefs (7-12-2011)
• CSDP: the strategic perspective External publications (22-11-2011)
• Foreign policy and the euro: we have an idea Security Policy Briefs (7-11-2011)
• A new External Action Service needs a new European security strategy Security Policy Briefs (5-11-2011)
• Ends, Means, and Meaning Commentaries (3-10-2011)
• Europe, strategy and armed forces – The making of a distinctive power Books (12-08-2011)