From October 2006 onwards, Alexander has been working at the IES as a researcher in the domain of European security and defence. His current research relates to the study of contemporary military operations, focusing on planning issues, operation design and military strategy, and civil-military relations. As such, his work sits on the intersection of strategic studies and European studies. In June 2011, he successfully defended his PhD thesis Planning, Friction, Strategy: The Politico-Military Dynamics of Crisis Response Operations. An abstract of his work is included below. 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).

Strategy promises to turn the use of military force into an instrument of policy. It can exist only as a synthesis between political and military logic. This thesis concerns the making of strategy for crisis response operations undertaken by European armed forces. Like all military operations, these undertakings are guided by political objectives. Unlike conventional warfare, their objective is not to defeat an adversary but to install a minimum level of security and stability. But how can crisis response operations deliver the desired political effects? Drawing on the work of Carl von Clausewitz and the strategic studies tradition, it is argued that strategy is the product of the operations planning process, which represents an iterative politico-military dialogue characterised by omnipresent friction. Planning enables the formulation of a rational intent behind military operations whereas friction provides an account of how the chaos of real life makes this process very difficult. Three detailed case studies – the planning of the EU operation in Chad, the UN operation in Lebanon and the NATO operation in Afghanistan – illustrate that the strategic template for crisis response operations relies on the twin pillars of deterrence and local capacity building. Building on over 120 interviews with diplomatic officials, military planners and operation commanders, this research sheds light on the instrumental nature of military force, the health of civil-military relations and the difficulty of making effective strategy.

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

Academic Publications

• "Book review – Europe, Strategy and Armed Forces: The Making of a Distinctive Power", European Foreign Affairs Review, 2012, 17 (1), pp. 161-163.

• "How Afghanistan has Strengthened NATO". Survival, 2011, 53 (6), pp. 127-140.

• "Book review - Albert Kersten: Joseph Luns, diplomaat in hart en nieren". Ons Erfdeel, 2011, 54 (1), pp. 186-187.

• (with Luis Simon) "EUnity of Command - The Planning and Conduct of CSDP Operations". Brussels: Egmont Institute, (Egmont Paper 41), January 2011. Download here.

• "The CSDP Mission Planning Process of the European Union: Innovations and Shortfalls". European Integration online Papers, 2010, 14 (9). Download here.

• (with Joost Koomen) "Het volkenrecht voorbij: de Nederlandse besluitvorming rond Irak vanuit strategisch perspectief". Internationale Spectator, 2010, 64 (6), pp. 320-323. Download here.

• "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. Download here.

• "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.