Clingendael Academy trains senior military officers in crisis management and diplomatic negotiation skills. We ensure that they are equipped to represent the Netherlands and the Ministry of Defence in the international arena where diplomatic behaviour is essential.

The Netherlands Ministry of Defence and Clingendael have been strong partners for decades. Clingendael trainers know how to work with the military and are familiar with their organisational structures, ways of communication, and learning style. We link this experience to our expertise in diplomatic practice and have designed tailor-made training programmes for the Netherlands Defence Academy.

In the training for the Advanced Staff and Command Course, we combine the transfer of knowledge and skills training with the experiences and work processes of the participants. We tailor exercises to their context and use a wide variety of training methods, such as:

• Self-assessments;
• Conflict analysis exercises;  
• Strategy workshops;
• A weeklong negotiation simulation.

We believe that experiencing different situations and practising diplomacy is the way to achieve behavioural change.

As such military officers not only apply what they learned before, but also gain insights in the thinking in grey, rather than black and white, of diplomats and political leaders.