HCSS Centre for Strategic Studies

prof. dr. Rob de Wijk

In 2007 Dr. Rob de Wijk assumed the position of Director of the The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies.

He is also Professor of International Relations at the University of Leiden and Chairman of the National Security Think Tank, advising the Government on defence and national security issues, including contingency plans for crisis management

To contact Rob de Wijk, please send an e-mail to his secretary Daniella Kranendonk

See also:
Speakers Academy

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Christa Meindersma, LL.M

Deputy Director HCSS, external relations and director Conflict Management.

Christa Meindersma LL.M is an international lawyer with broad experience in international affairs and diplomacy. Previously she worked as senior political adviser at the United Nations and the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Christa Meindersma has been involved in peace negotiations and policy advise in East Timor, Nigeria, Cameroon, Kosovo, Darfur, Nepal and New York. Christa is a member of the Committee on Peace and Security of the Advisory Council on International Affairs.

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Christa Meindersma

See also:
Personal website
Advisory Council on International Affairs

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Michel Rademaker, MTL

Deputy Director, market and operations at HCSS.

Michel Rademaker MTL is a Deputy Director, market and operations who combines a wide experience in defence and security research, ranging from strategy development to focused phenomena analyses. Rademaker is also the man behind many technology surveys. He has a background a former officer in the Royal Netherlands Army with a degree in Business Administration. During his fifteen years in the military he held both staff and operational posts. He acts as HCSS manager business development.

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Michel Rademaker

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drs. Erik Frinking

Programme Director National Security and Intelligence at HCSS.

Drs. Frinking is a senior policy analyst at TNO Defence, Security, and Safety and programme leader at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS). His activities focus on identifying and analyzing policy options, evaluating policy outcomes, and developing strategies pertaining to issues of national and international security and intelligence. He joined TNO/HCSS in March 2006 and holds a Masters degree in political science from the University of Leiden.

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Erik Frinking

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Frank Bekkers

Drs. Frank Bekkers is Programme Director Defence Transformation. He has a background in Operations Research and Defence Analysis. Before joining HCSS in March 2010, Mr Bekkers has held various research, staff and management positions at TNO Defence, Safety and Security, such as Group Manager, Account Director and Strategic Planner. His last function was Programme Manager for the TNO research programme in support of the ministry of Defences capability planning. In the period 2002-2007 he was directly involved in the formation of the entity that in 2007 became HCSS.

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Frank Bekkers

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George Boone, MSc

George Boone works as a policy analyst at HCSS, where he is involved with the security foresight program. George holds a MA in War Studies from King’s College London and three degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology (BS Industrial Engineering, BS History, and MS International Affairs). Prior to accepting this position, he worked for Joint Management Services doing consulting work for the United States Department of Defense.

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George Boone

Jeroen de Jonge

Jeroen de Jonge is Commander in the Royal Netherlands Navy and appointed to HCSS as policy research fellow. He graduated from Royal Netherlands Naval College after a bachelor level course in Maintenance Technology at Eindhoven University. He completed the Collège Interarmées de Défense in Paris in 1999 (École Militaire) and was deputy chairman of the Netherlands MOD EU Presidency taskforce in 2004. He wrote the requirements document for the new Holland class patrol vessels and is the author of the 2009 Maritime Vision 2030 for the Commander Naval Command in Den Helder.

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Jeroen de Jonge

Marjolein de Ridder, MA

Marjolein works as a strategic policy analyst with HCCS. Her research interests focus on international security, political economy, geopolitics and energy issues, such as resource competition and diplomacy. Marjolein graduated cum laude from a two year Master program in International Relations and Diplomacy, offered jointly by Leiden University and the Clingendael Institute. Her MA-thesis addressed the ways in which oil and gas reserves shape the alignment preferences of former Soviet republics in the Caspian Sea region. Marjolein holds a cum laude Bachelor’s degree in Social and Political Sciences from the Catholic University of Leuven. Furthermore, she participated in an exchange program with Sciences Po Paris and obtained a certificate in Geopolitical Analysis of International Relations from the International Centre for Geopolitical Studies (ICGS) in Geneva. During her studies, Marjolein interned with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Security Policy Division, where she worked on disarmament, non-proliferation, arms control and arms export policy.

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Marjolein de Ridder

Stephan De Spiegeleire, MSc.

Stephan De Spiegeleire is working primarily in the areas of network-centrism, NATO and European defence transformation, and European Homeland Security. He has worked for the RAND corporation for nearly ten years (five years in the US and almost five years in the Netherlands), interrupted by stints at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (Germany) and the Western European Union’s Institute for Security Studies (France). Starting out as a Soviet specialist, Stephan has branched out into a several fields concerning international security policy, all related to international security and defence. Stephan is currently working towards a Ph.D at the Political Science Department of the University of California (US). He also teaches at Webster University in Leiden.

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Stephan De Spiegeleire

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Teun van Dongen, MA

Teun van Dongen holds a Master’s degree in history and in international relations, both with a strong interest in ideologically inspired political movements in the 20th and 21st century. Before working at HCSS, he worked for the Dutch Permanent Representation at NATO. His PhD research focuses on terrorism and counterterrorism. He is interested in the effectiveness of counterterrorism policies.

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Teun van Dongen

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Aksel Ethembabaoglu BSc MA

Aksel Ethembabaoglu works as a policy analyst at HCSS, where he is involved in HCSS security foresights. Aksel received his MA in Science and Security from the Department of War Studies at Kings College London and holds a BSc. in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Amsterdam. Prior to working for HCSS he worked for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Hague and the Hudson Institute.

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Aksel Ethembabaoglu

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Jesse Hendriks

Mr. Jesse Hendriks is working at the secretariat of HCSS since October 2009. He studied Technical Informatics and System Management at the Mondriaan in The Hague. After that he worked in the photo archive at the ‘Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst’ and as a planning employee at a technical company called Mennens. At HCSS he is first contact point for all external telephone traffic as well as responsible for the company logistics, preparation of meeting rooms and the execution of all kinds of administrative tasks.

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Jesse Hendriks

Jaakko Kooroshy

Jaakko Kooroshy is a policy analyst focusing on the global economy and geopolitics. He has expertise in a range of quantitative and qualitative research methods and scenario development. In previous work he has contributed to a wide variety of global policy debates, including water scarcity, labor market institutions, FDI in the public sector of developing countries, and conflicts in the Middle East.

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Jaakko Kooroshy

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drs. Rem Korteweg

Rem is a policy analyst in the field of diplomacy, conflict and security policy. His recent work focuses on Western security and defence policy in a changing world, NATO’s new strategic concept, and the dynamic in the Middle East.

Rem started at HCSS as a PhD candidate working on the dynamic of military transformation across the NATO alliance with a special interest in the role played by strategic cultures. Part of this research was conducted at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to his position at HCSS he was a visiting fellow at the European Union Institute for Security Studies and the Clingendael Institute for International Relations. He is a regular contributor to conferences on transatlantic security issues and defense transformation. Rem holds an MA in International Relations (cum laude) and BA in Social Sciences (cum laude), both from Utrecht University.

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Rem Korteweg

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Monique Mahieu

Since June 2008, Monique Mahieu is office manager at HCSS. Monique carries out a broad range of organisational and administrative related activities that facilitate the smooth running of HCSS’ secretariat.

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Monique Mahieu

Islam Y. Qasem, Dr.

Islam Y. Qasem is a strategic analyst at HCSS. His areas of expertise are political economy, oil politics, security, political Islam and the Middle East. He holds a PhD in political science from Leiden University. In addition, he has a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Fresno California State University, a diploma in management form Harvard Business School executive programme, a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University, and a Diploma De Estudios Avanzados in Political and Social Sciences from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain. Before joining HCSS he taught at the Political Science Institute and the School for Middle Eastern studies at Leiden University.

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Islam Qasem

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Sophie Roborgh, MA, MSc

Sophie Roborgh is a strategic analyst at HCSS. She is specialized in history of the Middle East, political Islam and in particular the Indonesian group Jemaah Islamiyah and crisis decision-making and economic diplomacy.Sophie holds a BA and MA in Arabic and Islam from the Radboud University Nijmegen and a MSc (cum laude) in Theory and History of International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). During her studies she interned at Caritas Austria Flüchtlingshilfe and at the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Tel Aviv. Prior to coming to HCSS she worked as a research assistant at the faculty of International History at the LSE.

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Odile Steijger, Dr.

Odile Steijger is working at TNO since 1995 in various management functions, both in public TNO and the privatized section of TNO, TNO Companies. At TNO Companies she is responsible for guiding and selling of TNO participations since 2006 in the function of director or management advisor. The most important activities thereby are efficiency improvement of processes and improvement of market position and financial result. Since 1 January 2010 Odile is working at HCSS as operational manager for three days per week, whereby she is responsible for internal affairs, like finance, HRM and ICT. The other two days she is working as the director of Fytagoras B.V, also a TNO company.

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Odile Steijger

drs. Tim Sweijs

Tim Sweijs is a policy analyst with the Security Studies Programme. Prior to coming to HCSS he served as a research assistant at NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly. He received degrees in War Studies (MA, King’s College), International Relations (MSc, University of Amsterdam) and Philosophy (BA, University of Amsterdam). He has been involved in a variety of projects; the current focus of his work is on geopolitical risk assessment and security foresight. Tim also teaches at the political science department of the University of Amsterdam.

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Tim Sweijs

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Frank van Kappen, Major-General (ret)

Major-General of the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps (ret.) Frank van Kappen has held various military operational and defence staff posts at national and international levels. He was Commander of the Netherlands’ Naval Force in the Caribbean and the highest military adviser to the Secretary General of the United Nations. He is an expert on peace support and crisis management operations and acts as a consultant to both national and international organisations, including NATO. Van Kappen is also an advisor affiliated with the Asian Multinational Planning Augmentation Group (MPAT).

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Frank van Kappen

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June Vasconellos

June Vasconellos works since June 1, 2010 as a communications assistant at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS). Previously she worked for 23 years at TNO in communications. Her career started at the Physics and Electronic Laboratory of TNO in The Hague. Since 1995 she worked as a Press Officer at TNO Corporate Communications. After fulfilling this function, she became a project leader for several communication projects, including the 75 year anniversary of TNO. At HCSS she deals with internal and external communications.

Evelien Weller, MA

Evelien Weller MA is a policy analyst for the Conflict Management programme at HCSS. Her work focuses on aspects concerning joint analysis, planning and implementation of interventions (comprehensive approach) and state building in post conflict areas and fragile states. Evelien joined HCSS in September 2008. She holds a MA in International Relations from the University of Amsterdam as well as a MA in International Peace and Security, which she received from King’s College London. She has worked as a policy advisor for IKV Pax Christi, International Alert en SNV.

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Evelien Weller

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Daniella Kranendonk - Wierenga

Daniella is the secretary of HCSS Director Rob de Wijk. To contact Rob de Wijk, please send an e-mail to Daniella Kranendonk.

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Daniella Kranendonk

Anna Michalkova, Msc

Anna Michalkova is enrolled in the HCSS internship programme as a policy analyst. She holds a master of social science degree (cum laude) in politics and international studies from Uppsala University in Sweden. Her masters thesis deals with targeting energy infrastructure by violent non-state actors. Anna previously worked at International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance in Stockholm, and she did several internships at various institutes such as Centre for Security Studies in Switzerland, and the Uppsala Conflict Data Programme.

Anca Paducel

Anca Paducel is following an internship at HCSS as a policy analyst. She is currently doing her Baccalaureate in Social Sciences with Honours in International Development and Globalization at the University of Ottawa. She previously interned with the UNDP Country Office in Romania, the Romanian Embassy in Ottawa and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. She is also volunteering with the United Nations Association of Canada (Ottawa Branch) and the North-South Institute. After completing her undergraduate studies she will continue on to graduate school to do an MA in international security.

Diederik Perk, BA

Diederik Perk follows an internship at HCSS as a Policy Analyst. He is currently enrolled as a MA student of Military History at the University of Amsterdam. After having concluded his BA at the university college Roosevelt Academy- with a focus on foreign affairs, geography and sociology- he was employed at the Dutch Ministry of Defence. Here he was responsible for streamlining datasets and providing consultation for civil and military personnel. His interests include analytical/epistemological problems, geopolitics and scarcity of resources as well as (backdoor) diplomacy. He is involved in a range of projects and debates on the future of the Dutch armed forces.

drs. Jelena Petrovic

Jelena Petrovic is following an internship at HCSS as a policy analyst. She graduated from Belgrade University where she also pursued postgraduate studies, both in International Relations. Currently she is a PhD Candidate entering the final year at the War Studies Department at Kings College London with a dissertation on NATO conditionality in the Western Balkans. She worked as a research fellow at the Centre for Civil-Military Relations in Belgrade, Serbia and interned as a policy analyst at the Advanced Research and Assessment Group (ARAG) at the UK Defence Academy.

Liga Renkmane, BA, LL.M

Liga Renkmane follows an internship at HCSS as a policy analyst. She graduated from Riga Stradins University with a BA in International Relations European Studies and recently received LL.M in Law and Politics of International Security from VU University Amsterdam. During her studies in Riga she did an internship at the Latvian Institute and did volunteer work for Baltic to Black Sea Alliance.

Zinzi Speear, BA, LL.B

Zinzi Speear follows an internship at HCSS as a policy analyst. She is currently following a LL.M in International Public Law and a LL.M in Military Law at the University of Amsterdam. And she graduated with a BA in European Studies and a LL.B in Law at the University of Amsterdam. She previously did an internship at the NGO Press Now in the Central Asia section and has worked as a student assistant at the Eggens Institute for Postgraduate Law Education at the University of Amsterdam.

Kirsten van Kaathoven

Kirsten van Kaathoven follows an internship at HCSS as a policy analyst. Currently she is a Political Science student (BA) at the University of Amsterdam, with a specialization in International Relations and a minor in Conflict Studies. During her studies she has been a member of the board of Machiavelli, the largest study association for Political Science in The Netherlands. She has also been involved, among other things, in the organization and participation of study trips, for instance to Israel & The Palestinian Territories. She has also participated in an Academic Exchange Program with Iran.

Janneke Wouda, BA

Janneke Wouda follows an internship at HCSS as a policy analyst. She is currently finishing her MA International Relations and International Organizations (IR/IO) at the University of Groningen. She already received her BA IR/IO. She specialized in international security. During her studies she was a commission member of a study association and she also worked as a volunteer for the Dutch refugee organization.