Paul van Hooft is a lecturer at the University of Amsterdam (UVA). He teaches three courses on grand strategy and US-European relations, both at the undergraduate and graduate level. Paul is a member of the Political Economy and Transnational Governance (PETGOV) programme group at the political science department of the UVA. His research interests include: grand strategy; multipolarity; transatlantic relations; military interventions; national security institutions and decision-making; civil-military relations; and lessons of the past and historical legacies.

Research

Paul van Hooft’s dissertation – The Future in the Past: Victory, Defeat, and Grand Strategy in the US, UK, France and Germany - explored the impact of victory and defeat in war on  grand strategy, and specifically the propensity of states to use military force or diplomacy. It focuses on the experiences of the belligerent states of the Second World War, and in particular on  those of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. To explore the argument, the book utilises regression analysis, historical analysis, counterfactual thought experiments, content analysis of documents, and a series of fifty interviews with American, British, French, and German policymakers. The dissertation shows that victory increases the propensity of states to use force and decreases their propensity to use diplomacy, while defeat fosters the opposite. Experiences with war also shape the types of military capabilities and alliances that policymakers prefer, and their perception of threats. Finally, wars affect the legitimacy and influence of policymakers, thereby reinforcing the lessons drawn from war. Together, the three effects of victory and defeat establish enduring patterns of national strategic behaviour that continue to define transatlantic relations. The dissertation was defended January 2015.

Paul van Hooft is currently working on several projects that follow from his doctoral research. He is also developing a comparative study of national security institutions and decision-making. Paul is particularly interested in how the changing distribution of power in the international system - multipolarity -  is interacting with domestic institutions and politics.

Professional and Academic background

Paul van Hooft graduated from the University of Amsterdam (UVA) with a Master's degree in International Relations. After graduating Paul worked as a free lance researcher and taught at the UVA as a junior lecturer. Paul was employed as a policy analyst at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS), working in the Defence Transformation Programme.

• Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR)

• Political Economy and Transnational Governance (PETGOV)

• Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS)

• Promotion

Teaching Activities

Paul van Hooft teaches: (1) a Msc-thesis project on contemporary strategic issues 'Grand Strategy for  21st Century' ; (2) an undergraduate course on the origins of and perspectives on grand strategy 'Grand Strategy'; and (3)  another undergraduate course on US-European relations 'The US, Europe and the transatlantic relationship'. As an assistant lecturer Paul van Hooft has taught the Specialisation Course International Relations and the Political Economy course.

• Grand Strategy

• The United States, Europe and the transatlantic relationship

• Research Project: Grand Strategy for the 21st Century

Other activities

Paul van Hooft is also a strategic expert for the Pax Ludens foundation, and a consultant for the Dialogue Advisory Group (DAG).

• Pax Ludens Foundation for Training and Research in Conflict Resolution

• Dialogue Advisory Group (DAG)

Publications and conference papers

Conference papers

Hooft, P.A. van & R. Goldbach (2014). Finance and Force? Accountability Deficits of Transnational Networks in Financial and Security Policy. In ECPR 2014 Joint Sessions, Salamanca, April 2014.

M. Onderco & Hooft, P.A. van (2014). Informal non-proliferation regimes: the trade-off between security and autonomy. In 2014 International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Conference, Toronto, March 28 2014.

Hooft, P.A. van (2014). Transatlantic differences structured in state, society and the armed forces relations. In International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Conference, Toronto, March 29 2014.

Hooft, P.A. van (2013, September 7). Multi-Polarity, Complexity and Domestic Fractures: Sources of Grand Strategy in the First Decades of the 21st Century. Bordeaux, ECPR General Conference.

Haar, R., Hooft, P.A. van (2013, July 8). Between American values and interests: A Consideration of America’s strategic responses to the revolutionary awakening in the MENA Region.  Budapest, 2013 PSS-ISA Conference.

Goldbach, R., Hooft, P.A. van (2013, July 5). Illegitimate governance patterns in banking regulation and political-military planning? Accountability mechanisms and informational asymmetries between political principals and executive agents in transgovernmental networks. Amsterdam, European and Transnational Rulemaking Workshop July 2013.

Hooft, P.A. van (2013, April 6). Anchoring strategic culture and lessons of the past in the state-society-armed forces trinity. San Francisco, International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Conference.

Hooft, P.A. van (2013, April 4). Roundtable. American Grand Strategy in the 21st Century: Adjusting to the Shifting Balance of World Forces. San Francisco, International Studies Association (ISA), Annual Conference.

Hooft, P.A. van (2012, August 23). Multipolarity, Multilateralism, and Strategic Competition. GR:EEN-GEM Doctoral Working Papers Series.

Hooft, P.A. van (2012, June 22). Wartime Legacies, Grand Strategic Preferences and the Use of Historical Analogies in American, British, French, and German Policy Documents. Edinburgh, BISA/ISA Conference.

Hooft, P.A. van (2012, April 1). Follow the Flag: Armed Forces Deployed Abroad as an Indicator of Grand Strategy. San Diego, International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Conference.

Hooft, P.A. van (2011, March 17). A Framework for Analysing Grand Strategy and Strategic Culture: Continuities and Ruptures in the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany. Montreal, International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Conference.

Hooft, P.A. van (2010, June 24). Continuity in Grand Strategy in the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany. Rotterdam, Ceres Annual Meeting “Global Governance, The Crisis and Development”.

Hooft, P.A. van (2010, June 4). Grand Strategic Continuity in the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany during and after the Cold War. Amsterdam, International Political Economy in Amsterdam mini-conference.

Research reports

Spiegeleire, S. de, Hooft, P. van, Culpepper, C. & Willems, R. (2009). Closing the loop: towards strategic defence management. Den Haag: The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies.

Journal articles

Hooft, P.A. van (2007). De Europese paradox: nederlaag- en overwinningsculturen in drie Europese stromingen. Vrede en Veiligheid, 36(1).             

Aarts, P.W.H., Eisenloeffel, G. & Hooft, P.A. van (2005). Cultuur en strategie: de Verenigde Staten en het Iraakse fiasco. Vrede en Veiligheid, 34(2), 194-213.

Aarts, P., Eisenloeffel, G. & Hooft, P. van (2005). Het Iraakse fiasco: strategie, cultuur en de mogelijkheid om te leren. Internationale Spectator, 59(1), 45-49.

• Closing the Loop: Towards Strategic Defence Management

• Multipolarity, Multilateralism, and Strategic Competition

• No ancillary activities