A perspective from Belgium on world politics, terrorism & radicalisation, and foreign policy
The main impact of 9/11 on European societies has been to crystallize the pre-existing debate on immigration around the culturalist paradigm. In mainstream thinking the culture of the immigrants came to be seen as the major obstacle to their integration.
Rik Coolsaet (Mohammed Ayoob, Assessing the War on Terror)As French forces are engaged in combat operations in Mali, even belated EU involvement remains crucial, to ensure that the intervention fits in with the political end-state that the EU rightly pursues.
Rik Coolsaet, Sven Biscop, Jo Coelmont (Security Policy Brief Egmont Institute)This book is essential for officials involved in identifying and profiling the scope and nature of any jihadi terror threat. It is a compendium of academic research and the experience of hands-on counter-terrorism experts.
More than a decade after al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks on US soil, it becomes easier to reflect on what this event has meant for global politics.
Review of: Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalisation Challenge:
(…) an important updated second edition volume edited by Rik Coolsaet (…) a stirring account of the recent problems concerning jihadi terrorism and its precursor phenomenon, radicalization.
Europe did not wake up to terrorism on 9/11; terrorism is solidly entrenched in Europe’s past. The 9/11 attacks undoubtedly brought the EU into uncharted territory, boosting existing cooperation and furthering political integration – in particular in the field of justice and home affairs – to a degree few would have imagined some years earlier.
Rik Coolsaet (International Affairs)On 11 March 2009 Pierre Harmel passed away. His tenure as Belgian foreign minister (1966-1973) coincided with the burgeoning East-West detente, in which he himself took no small part. Replying to those who linked him with a ‘doctrine’, he invariably responded: ‘Je ne suis pas l’homme d’une doctrine. Je suis l’homme d’une politique’.
Rik CoolsaetFrom the ashes of World War 2 Belgium emerged as a convinced supporter of Western European defence arrangements under British leadership. Only in 1947 did Belgium discover a privileged partner in the United States. When the Cold War ended, Belgium returned to its roots, trying to combine European primacy and autonomy with Atlantic loyalty.
Rik Coolsaet (Egmont Paper)President Barack Obama can make great strides in combating al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups if he abandons George W. Bush\’s heated rhetoric and unrealistic view of how terrorism is structured, says Rik Coolsaet, a top European expert on terrorism.
Don Ediger (Consortium News)there is no watertight partition between domestic and international politics. The success of the social democratic movement was always closely linked to the international context that enabled it. This holds equally true today, now that social democratic parties feel they have arrived at an impasse.
Rik Coolsaet (International Politik und Gesellschaft (2009:1))Na 11 september 2001 besloot een groep academici, politieke leiders en kunstenaars om 12 september, ‘the day after’, uit te roepen tot Interdependence Day. Inspirator van de groep is de Amerikaanse schrijver en Benjamin Barber, bekend van zijn boek “Jihad vs McWorld”. De groep draagt een optimistische boodschap uit van ‘lotsverbondenheid’.
Kurt Van Eeghem (Klara)