Hylke Dijkstra

Ph.D. candidate

Hylke Dijkstra is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Political Science of Maastricht University, The Netherlands. He was educated in Contemporary European Studies at the University of Cambridge (M.Phil) and in European Studies (B.A.) and Economics (B.Sc.) at Maastricht University. During his undergraduate studies, he spent furthermore short periods at Yale University and the Corvinus University Budapest. In addition, he has worked for the Dutch EU Presidency at the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York (fall 2004) and for DG Enlargement of the European Commission (spring 2006).

Hylke Dijkstra specializes in the role of bureaucracy in European Foreign Policy (CFSP/CSDP). In the context of his dissertation, he looks in particular at the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers (Council Secretariat) and the European Commission. For this purpose, he has studied their political influence during all phases of the policy-cycle (from agenda-setting to termination) of four carefully selected CSDP civilian and military missions: the Rule of Law Mission EULEX Kosovo, the military operation EUFOR Tchad/RCA, the military operation ALTHEA in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the Aceh Monitoring Mission.

In addition to his dissertation research, Hylke Dijkstra has written papers on delegation, inter-institutional relations (Council Secretariat, European Commission, rotating Presidency), political-administrative relations, conflict resolution, and the politics of information in European Foreign Policy. He is furthermore engaged in ongoing research on the legacy of Javier Solana as the EU's first High Representative (1999-2009) and he participates in the Jean Monnet project on the Diplomatic System of the European Union from the Universities of Loughborough, Leuven and Maastricht. Hylke Dijkstra is the winner of the 2008 prize for best article in the peer-reviewed European Foreign Affairs Review for scholars under the age of thirty-five.

Hylke Dijkstra teaches several courses throughout the European Studies programmes of Maastricht University.

Keywords

European Union; Council Secretariat; European Commission; Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP); Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP); EULEX Kosovo; EUFOR Tchad/RCA; Operation ALTHEA; Aceh Monitoring Mission.