European Security after the Cold War: Dutch Strategic Reasoning and European Institutions.
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2026-01-15
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en
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This thesis examines how Dutch policymakers navigated competing European security frameworks in the decade following the Cold War. Focusing on the period 1989–1997, it analyses how the Netherlands interpreted and balanced the roles of NATO, the Western European Union (WEU), and the European Union’s emerging Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Rather than concentrating on formal policy outcomes alone, the study foregrounds the domestic advisory sphere, using reports of the Dutch Adviesraad Vrede en Veiligheid (AVV) as primary sources. Through qualitative content analysis, it reconstructs how expert advice framed institutional responsibilities, assessed strategic risks, and translated international developments into policy recommendations. The thesis argues that Dutch strategic reasoning was characterised by Atlanticist continuity combined with gradual institutional learning driven by crisis, particularly during the Yugoslav wars. In doing so, it highlights the central role of advisory expertise in shaping small-state security policy within a fragmented European security architecture.
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Faculteit der Letteren