@inbook{a19d3a45d397420690a015adc50b3364,
title = "Defence Policy in Belgium",
abstract = "Belgian defence policy experienced a pendulum movement spanning across different generations in time. The experience of wartime occupation led Belgium to abandon its policy of neutrality in favour of strong deterrence and defence during the Cold War. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Belgium deprioritised defence, reaped the peace dividend and transformed its military into an instrument for crisis management. The Russian aggression against Ukraine heralded the emergence of a new defence policy paradigm from 2022 onwards. This chapter takes stock of this pendulum movement by analysing not only the shifting political priorities and defence policy concepts, but also the evolution of the Belgian force structure, the assigned defence tasks and the state of civil-military relations. It synthesises the available scholarly literature and references key government documents with a view to outlining new avenues for research, such as the relationship between defence policy and Belgian state reform.",
keywords = "Belgium, defence policy, Belgian Politics, NATO, national security",
author = "Alexander Mattelaer",
year = "2026",
month = feb,
day = "5",
language = "English",
isbn = "9780198914754",
series = "Oxford Handbooks",
publisher = "Oxford University Press",
pages = "630--645",
editor = "Min Reuchamps and Marleen Brans and Petra Meier and {Van Haute}, Emilie",
booktitle = "Oxford Handbook of Belgian Politics",
address = "United Kingdom",
}