Joris Van Bladel
Biography
Dr. Joris Van Bladel is Senior Associate Fellow in the ‘Europe in the World’ programme at the Egmont – Royal Institute for International Relations. He studied Social and Military Sciences at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels and Slavic Languages and Eastern European Cultures at Ghent University. He holds a PhD in Arts from the University of Groningen. His doctoral research, The All-Volunteer Force in the Russian Mirror: Transformation without Change (2004), explored the persistence of military traditions in post-Soviet Russia.
Throughout and after his military career (1985–2006), he taught and lectured at institutions including the Royal Military Academy, Ghent University, the University of Amsterdam, Uppsala University, and the Technical University of Berlin. He has held research positions at the Center for Russian and East European Studies (University of Toronto) and at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin.
His work focuses on Russian military culture, strategic thinking, and the role of the armed forces in society, with a particular interest in why successive attempts at reform and modernization have repeatedly faltered against the weight of history and organizational culture. He is a regular media commentator on these issues.
In 2025, he published Land van het Grote Sterven: Hoe Rusland de Westerse logica tart [Land of the Great Sacrifices: How Russia Defies Western Logic] (Prometheus), a widely discussed book that traces the enduring patterns of Russian strategic culture and their impact on Western perceptions.
Publications
- Russia, Europe and the Danger of Strategic Reassurance Commentaries
- The Fog: The Opacity That Warns Security Policy Briefs
- The Ice: The Confrontation That Cannot Thaw Security Policy Briefs
- The Fire: The Offensive Meant to Decide the War Security Policy Briefs
- The Trump Effect: A Longer War, a Stronger Putin Commentaries
- Shifting Shadows: A Closer Look at Putin’s Latest Government Reshuffle Commentaries
- Stalin’s Shadow: Putin’s Response to the Moscow Terrorist Atrocity Commentaries
- Mass Matters: Understanding Russia’s Military Conduct and the Threat it Poses Commentaries
- Courage in the Face of Tyranny – Remembering Alexei Navalny Commentaries
- Beyond the Frontline Roar: Understanding Russia’s Societal Whispers Commentaries
- The Ticking Clock for Russia’s Endless War: Unveiling Silent Turmoil on Putin’s Second Front Egmont papers
- Measuring the Unmeasurable: Indicators of Russian State Resilience Egmont papers
- Beyond Russia’s Façade of Stability and Normalcy Commentaries
- Russia’s dangerous weakness Commentaries
- Captivated by war: The Russian People in the face of the Ukraine War, Mobilization, and Tactical Defeat Egmont papers
- Whom are we fighting? Some thoughts related to Russia’s latest mobilization plan Commentaries
- Russian Spring 2022 Recruitment Cycle: Putin’s Camouflaged Referendum? Security Policy Briefs
- The Unprofessional Russian Soldier Commentaries
- The Russian Soldiers’ Question Revisited Egmont papers
- Mobilizing Against Russia? Some Reflections on the Security Deadlock Called Ukraine Egmont papers