First name:
Alexander

Last name:
Mattelaer

CV:

From October 2006 onwards, Alexander has been working at the IES as a doctoral researcher in the domain of European security and defence. His research focuses on the interaction between the political decision-making and military planning of crisis management operations undertaken by European armed forces. In particular, he investigates the impact of politico-military friction on operational design and strategy.

His PhD thesis will theorise this politico-military friction in a Clausewitzian framework and analyse it in three recent military operations with substantial European involvement. Taking into account the different institutional organisations and planning systems available to European states for deploying their forces, the empirical part will focus on (i) the EU operation in Chad, (ii) the expansion of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon post-2006 and (iii) the NATO effort in Afghanistan. This research is intended to enhance the academic understanding of the intricacies of operational planning and related politico-military dynamics. The study of military strategy in crisis management operations also serves as a reflection on the usefulness of the military tool for stabilisation purposes.

Before embarking on his PhD, Alexander earned with distinction an MA in Contemporary European Politics from the University of Bath (UK). In a more distant past, he studied English and Dutch literature and linguistics at the KU Brussel and the KU Leuven (summa cum laude). During this period, he developed a keen interest in the philosophy of language and the use of rhetoric - which often proved very useful for his work as a political scientist as well.

Position:
Researcher project European security

Phone:
+32(0)2/629.1574

Fax:
+32(0)2/629.1809

List of IES Publications:

• "The Strategic Planning of EU Military Operations - The Case of EUFOR Tchad/RCA". IES Working Paper 5/2008. Download here.

List of External Publications:

Academic Publications

• "Planning for CSDP Missions and Operations". Brussels: European Security and Defence College, (Autonomous Knowledge Unit 6), December 2009.

• "Europe Rediscovers Peacekeeping? Political and Military Logics in the 2006 UNIFIL Enhancement". Brussels: Egmont Institute, (Egmont Paper 34), October 2009. Download here. 

• "Book review - Chantal Lavallée (ed.) L'Europe de la défense?" European Foreign Affairs Review, 2009, 14 (2), pp. 308-309.

• "ESDP Planning Machinery and the Lessons from EUFOR Chad". CFSP Forum, 2009, 7 (3), pp. 1-6.

• "Multidimensioneel crisisbeheer: De EU-VN samenwerking in Tsjaad en de Centraal Afrikaanse Republiek". Wereldbeeld, 2009/1, 33 (149), pp. 20-27.

• "Listen to the Generals? Military Strategy in European Crisis Response Operations". Studia Diplomatica, 2008, 61 (3), pp. 29-35.

• (with Sven Biscop) "De Europese Unie: een strategische militaire actor? Tsjaad als test-case". Res Publica, 50 (2), pp. 149-166.*

• "Book review - Bernard Adam (ed.) Europe Puissance Tranquille?" European Foreign Affairs Review, 2008, 13 (1), pp. 141-142.

• “EUFOR RDC and the Development of the ESDP”. Studia Diplomatica, 2007, 60 (3), pp. 73-89.

Conference Papers

• "The Crisis in Operational Art". Paper presented at the 2nd European Security and Defence Forum workshop organised by Chatham House. London, 11 November 2009.

• "The ESDP Mission Planning Process: Innovations and Shortfalls". Paper presented at the workshop 'Bureaucracy at Work: The Role of the Administrative Level in ESDP'. Maastricht, 18-19 June 2009.

• "Military Strategy and the Deployment of European Forces in 2006". Paper presented at the International Studies Association 49th Annual Convention. San Francisco, 26-29 March 2008. 

• "A Greater Need for Military Strategy? The Deployment of European Forces in 2006". Paper presented at the British International Studies Association 32nd Annual Conference. Cambridge, 17-19 December 2007.

• "The European Search for Strategy". Paper presented at the Politicologenetmaal. Antwerp, 31 May 2007.

• "The Motivational Dynamics of European Security Policy". Poster presented at the International Studies Association 48th Annual Convention. Chicago, 28 February - 3 March 2007. 

• “UN Peacekeeping and ESDP Operations in the Congo: A Mutually Beneficial Partnership in Military Crisis Management”. Paper presented at the GARNET PhD School EU & Global Governance: EU Political Multilateralism and Interactions with the UN. Bruges, 11-14 December 2006.

Newspaper Op-eds

• "Laatste kans voor dossier-Afghanistan". De Morgen, 2 December 2009, p. 24.

• "Militaire tijger België?" De Standaard, 4 November 2008, p. 28.

• "Voor een ernstig debat over buitenlandse operaties". De Morgen, 27 August 2008, p. 14.

• (with Jonathan Holslag) "De terugkeer van de geopolitiek". De Standaard, 12 August 2008, p. 17.  

• "België gaat niet ten oorlog". De Standaard, 6 February 2008, p. 19.

• "Is een vredesmacht voor Darfour wel een goed idee?" De Standaard, 7 August 2007, p. 15.

• "EU military action - a target for cheap criticism". European Voice, 1-7 February 2007, p. 15.

Varia

• (contributor to) "The Value of Power, the Power of Values: A Call for an EU Grand Strategy", ed. Sven Biscop. Brussels: Egmont Institute, (Egmont Paper 33), October 2009.

• (contributor to) "End-State Afghanistan", ed. Jo Coelmont. Brussels: Egmont Institute, (Egmont Paper 29), March 2009.

• (ed.) The EU's Africa Strategy: What are the lessons of the Congo Mission? Brussels: Security & Defence Agenda, (SDA Discussion Paper), 2007.

• "Vredesoperaties in Rwanda en Congo: Lessen voor het ontwerp van militair-humanitaire interventies". Antwerp: International Peace Information Service, (IPIS-dossier 147), 2006.