Dr. Elie Perot is Assistant Professor at the Brussels School of Governance (BSoG) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). He is the Programme Director of the BSoG’s Postgraduate Certificate in EU Policy Making and a researcher at its Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS). He also acts as coordinator of the BSoG’s Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence ‘REThinkEU – Rethinking Europe in a Changing World’.
His area of expertise covers European security, NATO and the EU, with a particular focus on the implications of the return of collective defence as the main strategic challenge facing the European security architecture. His research has been published in journals such as European Security, International Affairs, the Journal of Common Market Studies, the Journal of European Integration and Survival as well as by various think tanks and foreign affairs reviews.
At the VUB, Elie teaches the following courses (2025-2026): “The Political System of the European Union: Institutions and Decision-Making”, “The History, Theories and Politics of European Integration”, “Intensive Capstone Course”, and “Institutions and Governance of the European Union”.
Elie holds a PhD in Political Science from the VUB, a MA in European Political and Administrative Studies from the College of Europe, Bruges, as well as a Master in Public Affairs (summa cum laude) from Sciences Po, Paris. Elie has carried research work for the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique (FRS) on nuclear deterrence and missile defence systems. As an intern, he also worked as a speechwriter in the General Directorate of the National Police in the French Ministry of Interior, as well as for the Defence Office of the French Embassy in Italy and for the Conseil d’Etat in Paris.
He was awarded the 2025 “Global Strategy PhD Prize” by the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) and the Egmont – Royal Institute for International Relation as well as the “Young Researcher Prize” (Prix du jeune chercheur) at the 2017 annual symposium of the French Association for Defence and Security Law (AFDSD – Association Française de Droit de la Sécurité et de la Défense).
Selected Research
“The Return to Collective Defence: Navigating the Politics of Allied War Planning within NATO”, International Affairs, 101(6) (2025): 2129-2147.
“The European Union’s Nascent Role in the Field of Collective Defense: Between Deliberate and Emergent Strategy”, Journal of European Integration, 46(1) (2024): 1–23.
“A New Alliance in Europe: the September 2021 Defence Agreement between Greece and France as a Case of Embedded Alliance Formation”, European Security, 32(4) (2023): 583–606.
“Spot the Difference: Differentiated Co-Operation and Differentiated Integration in the EU”, Journal of Common Market Studies, 61(1) (2023): 259-276 – with Klose, S. and Temizisler, S.
“Differentiation in EU Security and Defense Policy”, In B. Leruth, S. Gänzle, & J. Trondal (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Differentiation in the European Union. Routledge, 2022 – with Klose, S.
“The Blurring of War and Peace”, Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, 61(2) (2019): 101-110.
“The Art of Commitments: NATO, the EU, and the Interplay Between Law and Politics within Europe’s Collective Defence Architecture”, European Security, 28(1) (2019): 40-65.
“L’activation de l’article 42 § 7 TUE par la France et la place de l’assistance mutuelle au sein de la politique européenne de défense: Beaucoup de bruit pour peu de choses ?”, In Warusfel, B. & Baude, F. (eds)., Annuaire 2018 du droit de la sécurité et de la défense. Mare & Martin, 2018.
Selected Policy Analysis
“Fuzzy, Loose, Soft: NATO’s New Defence Spending Targets”, CSDS Policy Brief, 21/2025.
“Revisiting Deterrence: Towards a French Nuclear Umbrella Over Europe?”, CSDS Policy Brief, 6/2025.
“Securing Ukraine After the War: What Role for Europeans?”, Brussels Institute for Geopolitics, 2025.
“Principles and Commitments: What Could an Agreement to Guarantee Ukraine’s Security Look Like?”, CSDS Policy Brief, 20/2023.
“Europe’s Geopolitical Necessity”, Internationale Politik Quarterly, German Council on Foreign Relations, 2023 – with Lumet, S.
“NATO, the EU and the Return of Collective Defence”, CSDS Policy Brief, 12/2022.
“France and Article 42(7) TEU: Great Expectations”, In B. Deen, D. Zandee, & A. Stoetman (eds.), Uncharted and uncomfortable in European defence: The EU’s mutual assistance clause of Article 42(7), Clingendael – Netherlands Institute of International Relations, 2022.
“The AUKUS Agreement, What Repercussions for the EU?”, European Issue (608), Fondation Robert Schuman, 2021.
“Solidarity and Deterrence in the Eastern Mediterranean: An Analysis of the Delicate Question of Collective Defence between EU Member States vis-à-vis Turkey’, Recherches & Documents (13), Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique (FRS), 2021.
“La querelle de l’« autonomie stratégique européenne » : dernier tour de piste ?”, Le Grand Continent, Groupe d’Etudes Géopolitiques, 2020 – with Lumet, S.
