Entries by Patrick Willemsen

HCSS Annual Report | Geopolitical Due Diligence

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For the HCSS Annual Report of 2023, director of political affairs Han ten Broeke looks back at the activities of the HCSS Boardroom initiative: leveraging our experience with corporate geopolitical due diligence, the Boardroom aims to help Dutch and European companies and investor strategies to become more geopolitically shock-resistant. As the world faces increasing geopolitical fragmentation and a decaying liberal international order, HCSS Boardroom supports companies by identifying opportunities and mitigating risks.

HCSS Annual Report | The HCSS Datalab

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For the HCSS Annual Report of 2023, data scientist Maarten Vonk looks back upon the interdisciplinary research done by the HCSS Datalab, as well as give some insights on several exciting developments for 2024. Our collaborative approach has consistently yielded insightful outcomes, serving a broad spectrum of public and private sector clients.

HCSS Annual Report | Strategic Technologies and Industrial Policy

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Today’s economic great powers – the United States, China and the European Union – are bound by a web of international value chains, writes strategic analyst Joris Teer in the 2023 HCSS Annual Report. They are dependent on each other for key technologies and critical preliminary inputs, and they rely on each other’s good will for the production of end-products. China on one side and the United States and the European Union on the other view each other as rivals again. As a result, the economic great powers have come to heavily rely on parties they distrust for the functioning of their vital sectors and general prosperity.

HCSS Annual Report | Energy and Raw Materials

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For the HCSS Annual Report of 2023, strategic analyst Irina Patrahau reflects back on the impacts on the energy markets by the intensification of great power rivalry. Governments experienced firsthand the extent of societal and economic disruption brought by weaponised import dependencies last year. The HCSS Energy and Raw Materials Initiative addresses the ways in which the changing geopolitical landscape affects global energy markets by offering targeted strategic analyses to public and private stakeholders.

HCSS Annual Report | Defence and International Security

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The growing conflict of interests and increasing confrontation between the important actors in the world is perhaps the most dominant development of the current era, writes Frank Bekkers, director of the HCSS security programme, in our 2023 Annual Report. And the forecast for the coming years is anything but rosy. In short: the return of great power rivalry and global instability directly impacts the Netherlands and Europe.

HCSS Annual Report | The Climate Security Nexus

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The effects of climate change became more prevalent in 2023, senior strategic analyst Laura Birkman writes in the HCSS Annual Report of 2023. The physical intensification of climate change has wide-spread socio-economic consequences, increasing the fragility and vulnerability of large populations. While the climate-security nexus gained increasing attention, climate mitigation and adaptation efforts remain insufficient. But not all hope is lost, as there is evidence that climate change is still seen as an opportunity for collaboration in an otherwise deeply fragmented world.

HCSS Annual Report | Global Power Dynamics

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For the HCSS Annual Report of 2023, senior strategic analyst Paul van Hooft looks back upon the global power dynamics that dominated last year. As the speed of developments and their interactions increases, the world needs to prepare for long-term structural changes in the distribution of power in the international system and deep uncertainty in the domestic politics on both sides of the Atlantic. Europe and the Netherlands must be more proactive and take on greater responsibility, given the close connectedness between the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific theatres.

HCSS Annual Report | A Look at our Research Portfolio

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For the HCSS Annual Report of 2023, Director of Research Tim Sweijs looks back upon our research portfolio. In 2023, we once again expanded our thematic scope while at the same we deepened our focus. Our portfolio currently covers a wider spectrum of the challenges that our societies face in today’s world, from great power politics and international security at the highest level down to the micro-fabrics of individual interactions that shape our everyday world from below.

Column Rob de Wijk: Prachtige woorden van Xi over vrede, maar daden ho maar

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De Chinese president Xi blinkt uit in het uitspreken van zalvende worden en het op papier zetten van initiatieven waar iedereen voor is. Maar als puntje bij paaltje komt, doet hij niets, schrijft Rob de Wijk in zijn column voor Trouw. Xi’s diepe wens om van de Amerikaanse dominantie af te komen is kennelijk groter dan de behoefte om een constructieve invloed op de vrede en veiligheid in de wereld te hebben.

HCSS Annual Report 2023

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HCSS proudly presents our Annual Report! The year 2023 was a year in which the challenges piled up, and power politics dominated the international discourse. This Annual Report offers you a comprehensive overview of the many issues we work on everyday: geopolitics, defence policies, coercion, emerging technologies, economic statecraft, climate change, cyber governance, societal security and public order. As we look forward, we expect another challenging year given the enormous geopolitical turbulence we do not expect to calm down anytime soon. We will be ready to offer our insights – now more than ever.