Last week, Clingendael successfully finished a training of eight days on International Security for employees of the Ministry of Defence. All participants are former or current Rijkstrainees who, in the context of personal development, were interested in obtaining a broader view of international security anno 2017.

• What kind of developments, trends and threats do we see these days in the realm of international security?
• How are current geopolitical developments shaping the international security agenda?
• How does this relate to the Netherlands and more specific, to the defence forces and its policy?
• And what challenges do we face when we look at the future?

These, and other questions, were touched upon during the course.

The training was facilitated at the Marinekazerne, in Amsterdam. The varied programme consisted of guest lectures, group discussions, interactive workshops and interview carrousels with professionals working on international security.

At the end of the training, the participants did not only get a bird’s eye view of contemporary security issues, they also gained insights on how to approach security challenges in combination with practical skills such as making a scenario analysis on future security issues.