ESSC 2023 programme cover — The European Initiative for Security Studies
Archive · 6th Annual Conference

2023 — Barcelona

29 - 30 June 2023 · Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals (IBEI), Barcelona.

From the archive

Conference programme

The full programme of panels, roundtables and papers, as it ran. Open a session to see its papers and speakers.

Day 1 — Thursday 29 June

  1. 09h00 to 09h30

    Registration and Coffee

    Main Hall (Roger de Llúria 40)

  2. 09h30 to 09h45

    Introductory Remarks

    Room 40.063 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Hugo Meijer (Director of EISS / Sciences Po), Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués (IBEI)

  3. 09h45 to 10h55

    Roundtable 1: War, Coercion and Statecraft (Hybrid & Recorded)

    Room 40.063 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Tim Sweijs (Netherlands' War Studies Research Centre / The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies)

    Discussants:Peter Viggo Jakobsen (Royal Danish Defence College, Center for War Studies, University of Southern Denmark (Online)), Kristin Ven Bruusgaard (Norwegian Intelligence School), Luis Simon (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Clara Portela (University of Valencia (Online))

  4. 11h00 to 12h30

    Defense Cooperation and Military Assistance

    Room 40.063 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Antonio Calcara (University of Antwerp)

    View papers (4)

    1. Changing Threat Perceptions and American Grand Strategy: Evidence from Maritime Military Exercises

      Presenter: Peter Dombrowski (U.S. Naval War College) · Simon Reich (Rutgers / Sciences Po)

    2. Alliance Cohesion and Military Manoeuvres: A Signal of Deterrence or Assurance?

      Presenter: Margit Bussmann (University of Greifswald)

    3. Mightier Yet?: Explaining British Military Underconfidence in Reference to Anglo-American Alliance Formation

      Presenter: Sylvain Thoni (Radboud University)

    4. Military Assistance Within the Framework of the Defence of the Liberal International Order: How Does Military Assistance to Ukraine Fit into US Grand Strategy?

      Presenter: Rocío Vales Calderón (Universidad Pablo de Olavide)

    (In)security and Organized Crime in Latin America

    Room 40.152 (Roger de Llúria 40, 1st floor)

    Chair:Margarita Petrova (IBEI)

    View papers (4)

    1. Criminal Governance Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic in Mexico

      Presenter: Lucia Tiscornia (University College Dublin)

    2. Violent and Non-Violent Mobilization in Criminal Wars: Current Determinants and Historical Legacies

      Presenter: Juan Masullo (Leiden University)

    3. Not War Nor Peace: Regulating the Use of Force in the Context of Large-Scale Criminal

      Presenter: Miriam Bradley (University of Manchester)

    4. Development Aid, Humanitarian Assistance, and Criminal Violence: A "Triple Nexus" for Central America's Northern Triangle?

      Presenter: Pablo Kalmanovitz (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM))

  5. 12h30 to 13h30

    Lunch

    Exhibition Hall (Basement)

  6. 13h30 to 14h55

    Military Interventions

    Room 40.063 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Silvia D'Amato (Leiden University)

    View papers (3)

    1. Who Supports Policy Interventions to Terminate Civil Wars? Survey Evidence from The United States and Germany

      Presenter: Martijn Vlaskamp (IBEI)

    2. Bringing the Troops Back Home: A Strategy Adaptation Under Adverse Conditions

      Presenter: Matus Halas (Institute of International Relations, Prague)

    3. The Russian Invasion and the Changing Character of Proxy War: Toward a Comprehensive Framework

      Presenter: Michel Wyss (Military Academy at ETH Zurich)

    Private Actors, Armed Conflict and the State

    Room 40.152 (Roger de Llúria 40, 1st floor)

    Chair:Juan Masullo (Leiden University)

    View papers (4)

    1. Alliance Formation and Rebel Co-Governance in North-East Syria: The Case of the PYD and the Syriac Union Party

      Presenter: Andrea Novellis (University of Milan)

    2. Resident Resistance: The Territorial Logic of Denouncing Organized Crime Groups in Rio de Janeiro

      Presenter: Nicholas Barnes (University of St Andrews)

    3. In the Crevices of the State: Criminal Governance in Uruguay

      Presenter: Lucia Tiscornia (University College Dublin)

    4. Rebel Governance as Self-Legitimation: The FARC's Justifications of Governance

      Presenter: Wolfgang Minatti (European University Institute)

  7. 15h00 to 16h30

    Military Technology

    Room 40.063 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Dominika Kunertova (ETH Zurich)

    View papers (3)

    1. Winning by Adapting: Battlefield Adaptation in the Long Russo-Ukrainian War

      Presenter: Marc DeVore (University of St Andrews) · Taras Fedirko (University of Glasgow) · Kristen Harkness (University of St Andrews) · Michael Hunzeker (George Mason University)

    2. Must the Drone Always Get Through? Coercion and One-Way Attack UAVs in Ukraine and Yemen

      Presenter: Marcel Plichta (University of St Andrews) · Ash Rossiter (Khalifa University)

    3. The Shock of the Old in the Russo-Ukraine War? Misunderstanding Continuity, Change and Adaptation of Military Technology Under Fire

      Presenter: Brendan Flynn (University of Galway / Ollscoil na Gaillimhe)

    Civil-Military Relations in Challenging Times

    Room 40.152 (Roger de Llúria 40, 1st floor)

    Chair:Stephen Saideman (Carleton University)

    View papers (4)

    1. NGO-Military Cooperation And Civilian Protection Policies

      Presenter: Daphné Charotte · Francesca Colli · Yf Reykers (Maastricht University)

    2. From the Bottom-Up: AI and Military Officers in Defence Alliances

      Presenter: Vicky Karyoti (Swedish Institute of International Affairs)

    3. Civilian Control Of The Military: Performance Management Reforms And Its Effects On The Military Profession In Sweden

      Presenter: Sofia Ledberg (Swedish Defence University)

    4. What are Defence Agencies Supposed To Do? Oversee or Protect The Armed Force

      Presenter: Stephen Saideman (Carleton University)

  8. 16h30 to 17h00

    Coffee Break

    Exhibition Hall (Basement)

  9. 17h00 to 18h25

    European Security

    Room 40.063 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Sarka Kolmasova (Metropolitan University Prague)

    View papers (4)

    1. Parliamentary Acceptance of EU Military Operations in Member States: Beyond Rubber-stamping?

      Presenter: Eva Michaels (IBEI) · Robert Kissack (IBEI) · Oscar Fernandez (IBEI)

    2. European Approaches to Chinese Foreign Policy: a Text-as-Data Approach

      Presenter: Jordan Becker (Brussels School of Governance) · Andreea Budeanu (Brussels School of Governance) · Haemin Jee (United States Military Academy, West Point) · Maxwell Love (United States Military Academy, West Point)

    3. The Role of National Secondments for Intelligence Support to EU Foreign Policymaking

      Presenter: Daniel Neumann (King's College London)

    4. The Politics of Sympathy Among NATO Member States

      Presenter: Simon Koschut (Zeppelin University)

    Intelligence

    Room 40.152 (Roger de Llúria 40, 1st floor)

    Chair:Kristin Ven Bruusgaard (Norwegian Intelligence School)

    View papers (4)

    1. The Intelligence Community as a Normative Actor under International Law

      Presenter: Sophie Duroy (KFG Berlin-Potsdam Research Group)

    2. Effects of Open Source Satellite Imagery on Nuclear Verification

      Presenter: Alexander Bollfrass (ETH Zurich) · Stephen Herzog (ETH Zurich)

    3. On the Institutional Battlefield of Intelligence Oversight: The Case of Questioned Democratic Accountability in The Danish Intelligence Services

      Presenter: Melanie Hartvigsen (University of Southern Denmark)

    4. The Complexity of the Grey-Zone: The Experience of Military Intelligence on NATO's North-Eastern Flank

      Presenter: Bram Spoor (Joint Istar Command, Netherlands Army & Netherlands Defence Academy) · Sebastiaan Rietjens (Netherlands Defence Academy and Leiden University) · Erik De Waard (Netherlands Defence Academy)

  10. 18h30 to 19h45

    Roundtable 2: Publishing and Preparing for the Academic Job Market (Hybrid & Recorded)

    Room 40.063 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Nicolas Blarel (Leiden University)

    Discussants:Angela Chnapko (Senior Editor at Oxford University Press (Online)), Jacqueline Hazelton (Belfer Center, Executive Editor at International Security (Online)), Olivier Schmitt (University of Southern Denmark, Associate Editor at European Journal of International Security), Marco Wyss (Lancaster University, Editor-in-Chief at International Journal of Military History and Historiography)

Day 2 — Friday 30 June

  1. 09h30 to 10h55

    Challenges and Opportunities for Post-Cold War NATO: How Changes in Alliance Membership, Technology, and Strategic Dynamics Affect Defence and Deterrence in Europe?

    Room 40.010 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Marcel Plichta (University of St Andrews)

    View papers (3)

    1. Re-Bordering NATO: the Strategic Dilemmas of Yesterday and Tomorrow

      Presenter: Maria Sofia Macedo (Independent Researcher)

    2. NATO's Nordic Neophytes: Sweden and Finland's Accession to NATO

      Presenter: Samuel Seitz (University of Oxford) · Julia Carver (University of Oxford)

    3. A Quiet Place: Assessing SSBN Vulnerability in the Arctic Ocean

      Presenter: Nicholas Blanchette (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

    Arms Procurement and Transfers

    Room 40.012 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Brendan Flynn (University of Galway / Ollscoil na Gaillimhe)

    View papers (3)

    1. Engine or Brake? The Franco-German Couple and the Future of the European Defence Industry

      Presenter: Antonio Calcara (University of Antwerp)

    2. EU Arms Collaboration and Procurement: The Impact of the War in Ukraine

      Presenter: Jonata Anicetti (Metropolitan University Prague)

    3. Arms Purchases in the Baltic States and Transfers to Ukraine: Balancing National Security Interests

      Presenter: Donatas Palavenis (Baltic Institute of Advanced Technology)

  2. 11h00 to 12h30

    Intelligence Success and Failure in Historical Perspective: Lessons from Beyond the Anglo-Sphere

    Room 40.010 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Eva Michaels (IBEI)

    View papers (4)

    1. Between Manipulation and Failed Adaptation: The Italian Intelligence and the Rise of Right-Wing Terrorism, 1969-1982

      Presenter: Niccolò Petrelli (Roma Tre University)

    2. The Failure Before 1973: Israel's Intelligence Failure in 1967

      Presenter: Gil-li Vardi (Stanford University)

    3. Intelligence under Dictatorship and Democracy

      Presenter: Zakia Shiraz (Leiden University)

    4. Apartheid South Africa's Intelligence Failures: Angola 1975, and Beyond

      Presenter: Kyle Harmse (Stanford University)

    Addressing Wicked Problems in Cyber Conflict

    Room 40.012 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Julia Carver (University of Oxford)

    View papers (4)

    1. Numbers, Prediction and Cyberwar: Why Integrating the Cyber Domain in Kinetic Wargames Is So Difficult and What Can Be Done

      Presenter: Peadar Callaghan (Games Lab, Tallinn University)

    2. Overcoming Obstacles: Reflections on Creating a Cross-National Experimental Cyber Security Research

      Presenter: Ayhan Gucuyener (Kadir Has University)

    3. A Lesser Evil: Why Democracies Struggle to Respond to Cyber-Enabled Election Interference

      Presenter: Arthur Laudrain (University of Oxford)

    4. The Normative Power of the Factual: How State Practice Shapes Understandings About Direct Public Political Attribution of Cyber Operations

      Presenter: Christina Rupp (Stiftung Neue Verantwortung)

  3. 12h30 to 13h30

    Lunch

    Exhibition Hall (Basement)

  4. 13h30 to 14h55

    Weapons of Mass Destruction: Non-Proliferation and Arms Control

    Room 40.010 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Elisabeth Roehrlich (University of Vienna)

    View papers (3)

    1. Populist Publics and Nuclear Weapons: Does Populism Predict Higher Nuclear Use Willingness, but also Opposition to Nuclear Sharing?

      Presenter: Tom Etienne (University of Pennsylvania) · Michal Onderco (Erasmus University Rotterdam) · Sandra Destradi (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg) · Andre Krouwel (VU University Amsterdam)

    2. Proliferation-Related Legislation in the EU: Is There a Need for Further Convergence?

      Presenter: Barry de Vries (Justus-Liebig University Giessen)

    3. How Russia's War on Ukraine has an Impact on the EU's Nuclear Disarmament Policy

      Presenter: Aderito Vicente (Odesa Center for Nonproliferation)

    Re-Visiting the Political Economy of Security

    Room 40.012 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Moritz Weiss (LMU Munich)

    View papers (4)

    1. Industries of Sovereignty: Strategic Autonomy, Defence Industrial Interests and the French Government's Use of the "European Sovereignty" Discourse in EU Politics (2017-22)

      Presenter: Salih Isik Bora (Sciences Po) · Ediz Topcuoglu (College of Europe)

    2. The US Hegemony Dilemma and European Missile Production

      Presenter: Lucas Hellemeier (FU Berlin)

    3. Outsourcing Security, Managing Risk: National Security States and the Privatisation of Defence Research

      Presenter: Kaija Schilde (Boston University)

    4. The United States and the Eternal Dream of Missile Defence

      Presenter: Sanne Verschuren (Sciences Po Paris)

  5. 15h00 to 15h30

    Poster Session

    Room 40.010 (Roger de Llúria 40)

  6. 15h30 to 16h00

    Coffee Break

    Exhibition Hall (Basement)

  7. 16h00 to 17h10

    Roundtable 3: Gendered Exclusion and Discrimination in Academia (Hybrid & Recorded)

    Room 40.010 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Hugo Meijer (Director of EISS / Sciences Po)

    Discussants:Annick Wibben (Swedish Defence University (Online)), Vanessa Newby (Leiden University (Online)), Stephen Saideman (Carleton University), Chiara Ruffa (Sciences Po)

  8. 17h15 to 18h40

    Alliance Management

    Room 40.010 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Jeffrey Michaels (IBEI)

    View papers (4)

    1. Credibility in Crises: How Patrons Reassure in Crises

      Presenter: Lauren Sukin (London School of Economics and Political Science)

    2. The Allied Defence Dilemma: Balancing between Autonomy and Alliance Cohesion

      Presenter: Lotje Boswinkel (Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy, Brussels)

    3. NATO and Multi-Domain Operations: Between Deterrence and Conflict

      Presenter: Mauro Gilli (ETH Zurich) · Andrea Gilli (NATO Defence College) · Nina Silove (ETH Zurich)

    4. US Preponderance in NATO: The Role of Logistics, Intelligence, Training, Cyber, and Coordination

      Presenter: Alexandra Chinchilla (Texas A&M University) · Jordan Becker (United States Military Academy, West Point) · Stephen Brooks (Dartmouth College) · Hugo Meijer (Sciences Po) · William Wohlforth (Dartmouth College)

    Psychology and Emotions in War and Strategy

    Room 40.012 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Katerina Krulisova (Nottingham Trent University)

    View papers (4)

    1. The Psychological, Social, and Strategic Value of Care During Crises and its Limits

      Presenter: Claire Yorke (University of Southern Denmark)

    2. Can Passions Help to Justify War? The Case of Revenge and Fear

      Presenter: Marie Robin (Université Paris Panthéon-Assas)

    3. The Approach-Avoidance Tension: A Fundamental Question of Military

      Presenter: Samuel Zilincik (Masaryk / Leiden University)

    4. Cognitive Warfare as Part of Society: A Never-Ending Battle for Minds

      Presenter: Robin Burda (Masaryk University)

  9. 18h45 to 19h00

    Award of the European Security Studies Best Paper Prize

    Room 40.010 (Roger de Llúria 40)

  10. 19h00 to 19h15

    Concluding Remarks

    Room 40.010 (Roger de Llúria 40)

    Chair:Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués (IBEI), Hugo Meijer (Director of EISS / Sciences Po)

  11. 19h15

    Cocktail

    Jardí de les Aigües (Ramon Turro 13)

Reconstructed from the conference's final printed programme.

Download the programme (PDF)

Session recordings

Selected sessions from EISS 2023 are available on the EISS YouTube channel (@eiss-europe). Clicking play loads the YouTube iframe. Before that, no YouTube cookies are set.

Host & venue

Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals (IBEI)

Each year, the EISS conference is organised on a rotational basis in a different European country. The 2023 conference was held at the IBEI in Barcelona.

Address: Universitat Pompeu Fabra — Campus de la Ciutadella, C/ de Ramon Trias Fargas, 25, 08005 Barcelona, Spain.

IBEI Barcelona, host of the 2023 EISS Conference.

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