This paper is about the political imbalance in the EU when it comes to attracting European agencies. Over the years, mainly due to the Brexit negotiations and for cost-efficiency reasons, many EU agencies moved from the UK to elsewhere, finding a new sea for headquarters functions or other departments. …

The COVID-19 global pandemic has raised once more the spectre of world governance, demonstrating in one fell swoop, the intricate entanglement of nation-states and the challenges they face when confronted with a global threat. The pandemic has produced an array of problems, from the deaths of millions, …

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a technology which is increasingly being utilised in society and the economy worldwide, but there is much disquiet over problematic and dangerous implementations of AI, or indeed even AI itself deciding to do dangerous and problematic actions. These developments have led …

The Netherlands is generally regarded as a bürgerliche Gesellschaft disinclined to violent behaviour. A society that, moreover, had escaped the Urkatastrophe of 1914–1918, which had shocked and shaped Europe so profoundly. To explain the relatively peaceful nature of the Dutch society and its non-military …

Recently, the international security situation has changed significantly. Mutual trust between states has declined sharply. Policy makers of states and international organisations often no longer know where they stand. In 2016, the Oxford Dictionary proclaimed ‘post truth’ the word of the year.1 In …

The system of export control regimes is an important instrument to prevent the proliferation of both weapons of mass destruction and conventional weapons. However, this system faces several structural and recent challenges. The regimes are informal, and consequently, their measures are non-binding upon …

This chapter examines whether the legal origin of a country influences the likelihood of ratification of multilateral international treaties concerning arms control. We theorize that ratification of an arms control treaty signals a country’s intention to avoid arms races and wars. We know only little …

NATO’s goals require close cooperation of Member States on operational readiness, interoperability of their systems, material supplies, transfer of technology and joint R&D projects. A common approach on the application and implementation of arms export controls, however, is largely lacking. This chapter …

The sovereignty of states is reflected in the notion of jurisdiction, empowering them to enact and enforce laws and regulations, and to adjudicate disputes in court. The jurisdiction of states and the exercise thereof is primarily territorial, limiting the exercise of state authority to their respective …

Using a four-level dashboard, this chapter offers a quantitative and a qualitative analysis of the effectiveness of an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia. The chapter elaborates on the question as to how political, security and economic motives have impacted the (un)willingness of major arms selling states …