Many coastal communities worldwide are facing challenges caused by increasing sea levels. However, urban development, population growth and industrialisation in low-lying delta regions persist. This includes the Netherlands and British Columbia, Canada. Both regions explore new and innovative flood risk …

This article examines whether calls for European ‘strategic autonomy’ in response to Trump’s rhetoric are qualitatively different from earlier disagreements in US-EU relations. By doing so, it re-assesses Geir Lundestad’s concept of “Empire by Invitation” to illustrate constraints for the development …

This study examines the role the European Union Battlegroups can play in accomplishing EU security goals. In doing so, an assessment is made of the capabilities and shortcomings of the Battlegroups in light of EU defence ambitions. The security environment of the European Union is changing. Since the …

The deep political and security crisis in Iraq can only be described as a failed SSR effort. Since the U.S. led invasion of 2003, became the Stabilization Force in Iraq (SFIR) responsible for the reformation of the Iraqi SS. The present Iraqi security circumstances show that since the last U.S. troops …

In the Netherlands, there have been many discussions about whether or not to establish a European Defence Organisation. However, due to the political party D66 (Democrats '66), this discussion has been revived in 2006 to such an extent that it really had an impact on political agendas of the Dutch political …

This paper examines the complex relationship between the Western Balkan region and the EU security policy. It examines the development of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) in the context of the violent crises, which occurred in the southeastern European countries (SEE) around the decomposition …

Will the Netherlands be able to keep its sovereignty in the current episode of European security and defence policies? More and more cooperation takes place at the international level in a globalised world. The European institutions get more and more control over Member States policies. All nation-states …

The collapse of the Soviet Union meant the removal of the main adversary of NATO, and many believed that NATO had become obsolete given its original purpose of countering the Soviet communist threat. The end of the Cold War caused a debate about the future role and the necessity of the Alliance. It soon …