Prof. Luis Simón is Director of the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS) at the VUB. He is concurrently the Director of the Brussels Office of the Elcano Royal Institute, a Senior Associate (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and a Visiting Fellow at the Robert Schuman Institute for Advanced Studies (European University Institute). Luis is currently leading a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator project on US-China Rivalry and its implications for Europe. His areas of expertise include international security, US foreign and defence policy, European security, transatlantic relations, and Asian security.
Luis’ research has appeared in prestigious journals, such as Security Studies, International Affairs, Review of International Studies, Journal of European Public Policy, Contemporary Security Policy, the Journal of Strategic Studies, Geopolitics, Survival, etc. Earlier, he was a postdoctoral FWO Fellow at the School of International and Public Affairs (Columbia University) and a visiting fellow at the School of Advanced International Studies (Johns Hopkins University). Luis holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of London, and a Master’s degree from the Institute d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po).
Selected publications
‘Better safe than sorry: Why great powers accommodate “high-value” hedgers’, Review of International Studies, 7 November 2024 (FirstView), with Fabio Figiaconi
‘Face to face: France, Germany and the future of the European defence industry’, Journal of European Public Policy, 2 June 2024 (FirstView), with Antonio Calcara
‘A Reputation versus Prioritization Trade-off: Unpacking Allied Perceptions of US Extended Deterrence in Distant Regions’, Security Studies, Vol. 30, No. 5 (2021), pp. 725-760, with Tongfi Kim
‘Market Size and the Political Economy of European Defense’, Security Studies, Vol. 30, No. 5 (2021), pp. 860-892, with Antonio Calcara.
‘Covert Balancing: Great Powers, Secondary States and US Balancing Strategies Against China’, International Affairs, Vol. 97, No. 2 (2021): 1-19 (with Hugo Meijer)
‘Between punishment and denial: Uncertainty, flexibility, and U.S. military strategy toward China’, Contemporary Security Policy, Vol. 41, No. 3 (2020): 361-384.
‘Nodal Defence: The Changing Structure of U.S. Alliance Systems in Europe and East Asia’, Journal of Strategic Studies (2019, firstview), (with Alexander Lanoszka and Hugo Meijer)
‘Neorealism, Security Cooperation and Europe’s Relative Gains Dilemma,’ Security Studies, Vol. 26, No. 2 (2017): 185-212.
‘The “Third” US Offset Strategy and Europe’s “Anti-Access” Challenge,’ Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol. 39, No. 3 (2016), pp. 417-445.
‘Seapower and Forward Presence in the Middle East: US Retrenchment in Perspective,’ Geopolitics, Vol. 21, No. 1 (2016), pp. 115-147.
‘Europe, the rise of Asia, and the future of the transatlantic relationship,’ International Affairs, Vol. 91, No. 5 (2015), pp. 269-289.
‘Understanding US Retrenchment in Europe,’ Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, Vol. 57, No. 2 (2015), pp. 157-172.
