NATO gets an update: the Madrid Strategic Concept
NATO has convened a summit for heads of state and government in Madrid in June 2022 to approve a new Strategic Concept to update the 2010 Lisbon Strategic Concept.
International Security
What matters to the UK in the context of the new Strategic Concept discussion
The discussions around NATO’s new Strategic Concept coincide with a new chapter in the UK’s own foreign and defence policy, as the country redefines its priorities in the post-Brexit era and in a rapidly changing geostrategic environment.
Choreographing a pas de deux: a Dutch perspective on NATO’s (and the EU’s) near future
With regard to NATO, the Netherlands combines various capacities. As one of the Organisation’s founding members it has traditionally been considered a loyal ally.
All wars are hybrid, but war and the notion of hybrid have changed
It is neither war nor hybrid, but in all cases there is a certain mix of political, economic, social and, in some cases, military methods.
Afghanistan: the reasons why the Taliban’s return to power will have an impact on the Jihadist threat in western Europe
With the Taliban governing in Kabul it is likely that the central command of al-Qaeda as a global Jihadist structure will find Afghanistan and Pakistan a much more permissive space for planning new attacks in the western world, something that in the short and medium term will have a greater impact on European societies.
Roundtable “The European Union’s next enlargement: prospects and pitfalls”
Participants: Miguel Ángel Aguilar, President, Fundación Carlos de Amberes; Charles Powell, Director, Elcano Royal Institute; Robert Krmelj, Ambassador of Slovenia to Spain; Maciej Popowski, Acting Director-General at the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, European CommissionJuan González-Barba, State Secretary for the European Union, Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation of Spain; Gašper Dovžan, State Secretary, Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia; Nikola Dimitrov, Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia; Jadranka Joksimović, Minister of European Integration of the Republic of Serbia; Megi Fino, Deputy Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs at Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania; Ljubomir Mišurović, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro; Florian Bieber, Coordinator, Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group; Ivan Vejvoda, Acting Rector, Institute for Human Sciences; Vesko Garcevic, Professor, Boston University; ex ambassador of Montenegro to NATO; Peter Grk, Secretary General of Bled Strategic Forum and Ruth Ferrero, professor, Universidad Complutense de Madrid.Moderators : Charles Powell, Director, Elcano Royal Institute and María Solanas, Director of Programmes, Elcano Royal Institute.Friday, 19th November 2021, from 09:30 to 11:45 h. CET (UTC+1). Fundación Carlos de Amberes, c/ Claudio Coello, 99, Madrid, Spain.
The limits of like-mindedness in cyberspace
In reaction to the Ghostwriter campaign, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, published a Declaration on 24 September 2021 on the ‘respect for the EU’s democratic processes’. Surprisingly, the Declaration inherently failed to rally widespread public support among Western democracies in Europe and beyond.
Roundtable ‘Scanning NATO’s future to 2030. Implications for the South’
Participants: Luis Simón, Director, Brussels Office, Elcano Royal Institute; David van Weel, NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges; and Cristina Gallach, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and for Ibero-America and the Caribbean, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Spain.Moderator: Charles Powell, Director, Elcano Royal Institute.
Virtual Roundtable “Geostrategic implications of a Taliban government in Afghanistan”
Participants: Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Director General, Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI); Andrew Small, Senior Transatlantic Fellow, Asia Program, German Marshall Fund of the US (GMF); Lailuma Sadid, Afghan Senior Correspondent, Brussels Morning Newspaper.Moderator: Charles Powell, Director, Elcano Royal Institute.
Roundtable “The Madrid Summit and the future of NATO”
Participants: José Juan Ruiz, Chairman, Elcano Royal Institute; Baiba Braže, Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, NATO; Claudia Major, Head of International Security, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP); Luis Simón, Director of the Brussels Office and Senior Analyst, Elcano Royal Institute and Federico Torres, Director-General for Foreign and Security Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain.Moderator: Charles Powell, Director, Elcano Royal Institute.
The 19th of July: divided or united in cyberspace? From the EU and NATO to Five Eyes and Japan
Based on the public information available as of the time of writing, this Working Paper aims to disentangle and explain what occurred on 19 July. To the author’s knowledge this is the first ever case study to take a deep look into a coordinate attribution campaign.