And the award goes to...
(BRUSSELS2) Benjamin Pohl will speak at the EDA's annual conference on 21 March. He is the first recipient of the best doctoral thesis awarded jointly by the European Defense Agency (EDA) and the Egmont Institute, Royal Institute for International Relations (*). He will also receive €2.
A thesis that questions the Common Security and Defense Policy
Defended last September at the University of Leiden under the supervision of Professor Rob de Wijk, Dr. Pohl's thesis ("But We Have to Do Something") questions the Common Security and Defense Policy and focuses on the elements ( "drivers") who push the Union to engage in operations. It is based on a theoretical study of the CSDP but also on different examples that he dissects (EULEX Kosovo, EUFOR Tchad/RCA or even EUPOL Afghanistan). It attempts to answer the question of whether the EU needs to respond to every crisis or should it only intervene when it has a credible plan to improve the situation?
A young researcher with a promising future
Benjamin Pohl graduated from King's College London and the College of Europe in Bruges. After completing his doctorate in 2012, he joined the University of Aberdeen where he works on European Union foreign policy issues. His thesis will be published this year by Routledge under the title "EU Foreign Policy and Crisis Management Operations. Power, Purpose and Domestic Politics." Download the summary of his thesis
(*) The jury brought together officials and researchers specializing in the question: Claude-France Arnould, director of the AED, General de Rousiers, president of the military committee of the European Union, Professor Biscop of the Egmont Institute, the Dr Missiroli, Director of the European Union Institute for Security Studies, Professor Howorth of Bath and Yale Universities, Dr Linnenkamp of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Professor R. Whitman of the University of Kent.