Strategic Monitor 2021-2022: Hanging Together

Partners and Policies for the Netherlands and EU in Turbulent Times

The yearly report by the Clingendael Institute and The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS) analyses the most important trends and developments in the international regimes that form the international order, taking stock of the world of today and tomorrow. 

The focus of this report is identifying policies and partners for the Netherlands and EU that will further the goal of fostering strategic autonomy. The context for this process is an international system characterized by accelerating great power competition and eroding multilateral institutions.

Last year’s Strategic Monitor developed a broad blueprint for moving beyond the Netherlands and EU’s longstanding political and security dependence on the United States, in a constructive and open manner, and argued that this would be the best way to safeguard Dutch and EU interests in a geopolitical era. The need to implement strategic autonomy in this spirit – as a way to strengthen the transatlantic relationship and to protect European interests and values in an era of geopolitical competition – is the starting point for this year’s Strategic Monitor. It consists of several parts, including:

• This synthesis report

Five sub-reports:

• “Climate Security in Global Hotspots: Policy Options for The Netherlands”, by Dorith Kool and Laura Birkman
• “Taming Techno-Nationalism: A Policy Agenda”, by Hugo van Manen, Tobias Gehrke, Jack Thompson, and Tim Sweijs
• “Shifting Sands of Strategic Stability: Geopolitical Competition, Emerging Technologies, and the New Arms Control Agenda”, by Paul van Hooft, Lotje Boswinkel, Tim Sweijs, Benedetta Girardi, and John Michaelis
• “Sharing the Burden, Sharing the Secrets: The future of European intelligence cooperation", by Danny Pronk and Claire Korteweg
• "Identity, Industry and Interoperability: The Drivers of European Armaments Collaboration", by Danny Pronk, Dick Zandee and Adája Stoetman