Entries by Stephanie Govaerts

The HCSS Datalab presents: CARMEN, the Critical Raw Materials Early Navigation Dashboard

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The Critical Raw Materials Early Navigation (CARMEN) dashboard, is a tool developed by the HCSS Datalab to help organisations navigate the volatile world of critical raw materials. It brings together near real-time financial, and market data to secure essential materials while minimising exposure to risk. CARMEN contains financial data relating to 87 materials from various sourcing countries such as Australia, Brazil and China, which are updated daily. Discover how CARMEN can strengthen your organisation’s approach to critical raw materials and supply-chain security.

New Webinar | Bridging Waters: Middle Powers’ Cooperation on Maritime Security

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Join the webinar ‘Bridging Waters: Middle Powers’ Cooperation on Maritime Security’ on 18 November 2025 from 10am-12pm online on Microsoft Teams. This webinar will explore opportunities for the Netherlands to collaborate with countries like Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam, focusing on securing vital maritime routes and ensuring freedom of navigation. With expert insights from contributors to a new paper series, the event will examine how through the use of preventive and responsive measures, we can enhance security and uphold open international maritime routes.

New snapshot: India’s Strategy in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

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As global power dynamics shift toward multipolarity, India’s challenge lies not in adaptation, but in shaping the new order. A new HCSS Snapshot, Old Players, New Moves: India’s Strategy in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, explores how India can turn its SCO membership into strategic advantage. Authors Anna Hoefnagels and Benedetta Girardi assess whether the opportunities of SCO membership outweigh its challenges—and how India’s strategic moves today can shape the rules of tomorrow’s global game. The paper identifies three key pathways for India to strengthen its regional role and influence the emerging multipolar order.

Sofia Romansky | AI in the Military Domain at the United Nations First Committee

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The 2024 UN General Assembly First Committee resolution on AI in the military domain marked a key step toward aligning multistakeholder and multilateral approaches. As the First Committee reconvenes in 2025, the Global Commission on Responsible AI in the Military Domain (GC REAIM), supported by HCSS, will host a side event presenting its Responsible by Design Strategic Guidance Report. The report offers shared knowledge, concrete recommendations, and a framework for institutionalising global AI governance—advancing a collective commitment to the responsible use of AI in defence and international security.

HCSS Intern Cohort Fall/Winter 2025

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Presenting our Fall/Winter HCSS Intern Cohort! Twice a year HCSS opens its intern applications, Fall/Winter interns (August – February) and Spring/Summer Interns (February – August). Our interns come from all over the world and work on a wide range of topics at HCSS. The intern coordinators are Benedetta Girardi and Laura Jasper. If you’re interested in applying for the HCSS internship programme look out for the applications to open in December!

New snapshot: The Strategic Cost of Transatlantic Competition Over Greenland’s Critical Raw Materials

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Greenland’s critical raw materials are attracting global attention – but will the EU and US step up, or will China fill the void? Assistant analyst Julie Jeuken investigates EU and US bilateral engagements with Greenland, finding that both share similar goals yet fall short of Nuuk’s expectations. The snapshot calls for a Greenland-centred approach to transatlantic cooperation: aligning efforts with the island’s ambitions, leveraging renewable energy in mining, and coordinating with countries already active in the sector.

New WPS Policy Brief | Addressing Water-related Security Challenges in Fragile Settings: Opportunities and Limitations for Defence and Security Actors

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The Water, Peace and Security (WPS) partnership explores the growing role of defence and security actors—the “fourth D” alongside development, disaster relief and diplomacy—in addressing water-related security risks. Based on literature review and expert interviews in Iraq, Mali, Ethiopia and Kenya, this new WPS policy brief by HCSS analysts Lennart Engel and Thijs van Aken examines their complex role in fragile, water-stressed contexts and identifies key opportunities, challenges, and three priority actions for more effective and responsible engagement.

Event Recap Franco -Dutch Defence Talks

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On September 30th, HCSS hosted the inaugural Franco-Dutch Defence Talks supported by the French Defence Attache office in the Netherlands. This year’s meeting focused on the state of European discussions on nuclear deterrence, with a particular focus on the current debates surrounding the role of European nuclear weapons considering the Russian invasion of Ukraine and American instability.

Iskander Rehman | A Little World War: Lessons from the Spanish Civil War for Contemporary Strategies 

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On 11th September 2025, HCSS welcomed Dr. Iskander Rehman, author and Senior Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation for a lecture on the Lessons Learnt from the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) applicable to the current war in Ukraine. Rehman’s comparative historical analysis yielded numerous insights relevant for today’s world.

From Dayton to Brussels: 30 Years of Peace, deadlock, and an EU path for Bosnia and Herzegovina

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The Clingendael Institute together with The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS) and The BiH-NL Thinktank have the pleasure to invite you to the conference “From Dayton to Brussels: 30 Years of Peace, Deadlock, and an EU Path for Bosnia and Herzegovina”, which will be held on 21 November 2025 as both an invitation-only symposium as well as online. As we mark the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement, this event seeks to reflect on the legacy of the agreement, examining how it ended conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina but entrenched political divisions that continue to challenge democratic progress and EU integration.