Professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 Rik Coolsaet is a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 academic

Academia

Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...

. He is professor of International Relations

International relations

International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...

 at Ghent University

Ghent University

Ghent University is a Dutch-speaking public university located in Ghent, Belgium. It is one of the larger Flemish universities, consisting of 32,000 students and 7,100 staff members. The current rector is Paul Van Cauwenberge.It was established in 1817 by King William I of the Netherlands...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. He chairs the Department of Political Science at Ghent University. He is member of ENER (European Network of Experts on Radicalisation) and Senior Associate Fellow at Egmont Institute (Royal Institute of International Relations), Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

.

Official positions

He has held several high-ranking official positions, such as deputy chief of the Cabinet of the Belgian Minister of Defence (1988–1992) and deputy chief of the Cabinet of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (1992–1995). From 2002 until 2009 he served as Director of the ‘Security & Global Governance’ Program at the Egmont Institute (Brussels).

Publications

He has published the first comprehensive study on the history of Belgian foreign policy (Belgium and its foreign policy 1830–2000, 4th revised edition, 2003, in Dutch and partly in French). He also researched the evolution of diplomacy (The Transformation of Diplomacy at the Threshold of the New Millennium, in: Jönsson, C., Langhorne, R., Diplomacy. London, Sage, 2004, Vol. III). He has written and commented extensively on international relations and Belgian foreign policy. His present research includes terrorism, long-term change patterns in international relations and the dynamics behind today's world order. On the issue of terrorism he has been coordinating research on jihadi terrorism, that resulted in several publications. His most recent publication on this topic is Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalisation Challenge. European and American Experiences (Ashgate, 2011). In his bestselling 2008 book (in Dutch) The History of Tomorrow's World he predicts that growing inequality, on all continents, will inextricably lead to a worldwide protest wave.

External links

• www.rikcoolsaet.be
• Biography
• http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409425687
• Launch of Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalisation Challenge, Brussels, October 10, 2011

Further reading

• International Herald Tribune
  International Herald Tribune
  The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
  
  , William Pfaff
  William Pfaff
  William Pfaff is an American author, op-ed columnist for the International Herald Tribune and frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books. He was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and is of German, English, and Irish origin...
  
  : To Europe, Bush is only creating more terrorists, January 30, 2006 http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/29/opinion/edpfaff.php, quoting some of Rik Coolsaet's views on terrorism
  Terrorism
  Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
  
  .