Read more about the article Renegotiating Alliances: Trump’s America’s first foreign policy and the European Union’s quest for strategic autonomy
Info Flash

Renegotiating Alliances: Trump’s America’s first foreign policy and the European Union’s quest for strategic autonomy

In light of Donald Trump’s second administration and its transactional America-first foreign policy, this paper considers the implications for European strategic autonomy amid the heightened importance of US security commitments and defence capabilities. Trump’s foreign policy is driven by the belief that Europeans have taken advantage of the US within the NATO alliance and international trade, and seeks to renegotiate trade agreements, returning manufacturing to the US and shifting its strategic orientation towards Asia. In the short term, this can constrain Europe’s strategic autonomy, as European capitals are pressured to accommodate the America-first agenda to ensure the US retains vital military capabilities in Europe and continues to provide military support to Ukraine. However, in the long term, the Trump administration’s pressure on allies to spend more on defence and a degree of ambiguity over security commitments reinforces the need for European strategic autonomy and accelerates the development of capacities that enable Europe to pursue its interests more independently.

0 Comments
11 June 2025
Read more about the article The Acceleration of Command and Control Through Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for European Land Forces
Info Flash

The Acceleration of Command and Control Through Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for European Land Forces

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an ever more important part of command and control (C2) and the decision-making connected to it. AI systems are crucial in supporting commanders in their decision-making, allowing them to act on data and the information it carries faster and more efficiently than ever before. These systems are complex, their results are often difficult to understand or verify, and they struggle with ethical considerations. To offset these disadvantages, humans need not concur with every decision AI makes, but they should retain control and be able to intervene and stop certain decisions as they see fit. Given the faster speed that AI gives C2 activities, continuing to exercise this control will prove challenging for commanders and their staff.

0 Comments
5 June 2025
Read more about the article NORDEFCO – A Blueprint for Regional Defence Cooperation?
Info Flash

NORDEFCO – A Blueprint for Regional Defence Cooperation?

This paper examines the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) as a case study in pragmatic, regional defence collaboration. Despite being founded by states with divergent political alignments and defence doctrines, NORDEFCO has evolved into a flexible and low-threshold framework that promotes operational efficiency, logistical coordination, and strategic interoperability among its members. By tracing NORDEFCO’s institutional structure and historical development, the study assesses the model’s successes and limitations. While NORDEFCO’s achievements, such as multinational exercises, intelligence sharing, and education programmes, demonstrate the value of voluntary, sovereignty-conscious cooperation, its replicability is constrained by the unique geopolitical and cultural cohesion of the Nordic region. The paper further aims to provide an outlook into NORDEFCO’s possible avenues of expansion and prospective transformation following the NATO membership accession of all its members. The study concludes that NORDEFCO-NATO coalescence is crucial to overcome the agreement’s limitations to achieve real Nordic defence integration, arguing that NORDEFCO is likely to retain its relevance under NATO command thanks to its region-specific capability enhancement projects.

0 Comments
3 June 2025
Read more about the article Climate threats as justifying derogations under Article 15 ECHR?
Info Flash

Climate threats as justifying derogations under Article 15 ECHR?

This paper examines whether Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) can serve as a legal foundation for addressing security threats arising from climate change. Through doctrinal analysis and case-based comparisons, it explores how climate-driven crises may justify rights derogations under Article 15. The findings show that while such an approach aligns with the EU’s Joint Communication on the climate-security nexus, it risks reinforcing coercive, state-centric responses. The paper concludes that a shift towards a human security framework offers a more ethical and effective path, emphasising individual protection and structural climate justice over militarised solutions.

Comments Off on Climate threats as justifying derogations under Article 15 ECHR?
22 May 2025
Read more about the article From Cape to Kazan? Russia’s Contemporary Use of Colonial Warfare in Africa
Info Flash

From Cape to Kazan? Russia’s Contemporary Use of Colonial Warfare in Africa

The scale of the war in Ukraine has overshadowed Russia’s other overseas military ventures. This includes the multiple operations across Africa which began with Libya in 2016, and has since expanded to Mali, the Central African Republic (CAR), and Sudan, among others. Such operations were a key source of notoriety for the Wagner group before its deployment to Ukraine, which has since dominated coverage and analysis of the group’s conduct. Hence, in comparison to their conduct in Eastern Europe, the modus operandi of Russian state and private forces in Africa has received comparatively less attention. This paper aims to fill this lacuna and provide a taxonomical framework for this conduct, arguing that the military methods utilised by Russia in Africa are classifiable as colonial warfare, akin to the warfare waged by Europeans in the region two centuries earlier. It will elaborate on colonial warfare as a distinct practice of violence and how Russia’s conduct fits in with this framework. Furthermore, this paper will elaborate on the risks that the use of these methods directly and indirectly poses to European security.

Comments Off on From Cape to Kazan? Russia’s Contemporary Use of Colonial Warfare in Africa
21 May 2025