U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo H. Daalder Appointed to the Kooijmans Chair
Prof. Dr Ivo Daalder has been appointed, as of 1 September 2026, Professor and holder of the Kooijmans Chair in Peace, Justice and Security at Leiden University, within the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) of the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA), in The Hague.
With this appointment, Leiden University strengthens its academic contribution to pressing questions on international peace and security and the governance of international cooperation at a time when conflict dynamics, geopolitical rivalry, and mounting pressure on multilateral institutions rise and increasingly converge.
As Kooijmans Chair, Daalder focuses on the interaction between peace, justice and security: how international institutions contribute to stability; how states and international organizations respond to threats and conflict; and how security policy choices relate to legitimacy, alliances, and multilateral cooperation.
About Ivo Daalder
Ivo Daalder has been a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs since July 2025. Previously, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, from 2013-2025. From 2009 to 2013, he was U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Earlier, he was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, director European Affairs of the U.S. National Security Council and held multiple academic positions at the University of Maryland.
Alongside his policy and research work, Daalder contributes actively to public debate, including his substack America Abroad, a biweekly column in Foreign Policy and as podcast host of World Review with Ivo Daalder.
Daalder earned his PhD in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with research on NATO strategy and ‘Flexible Response’. His honors include the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service (2013) and national decorations from Germany, Estonia and Latvia. Daalder has strong ties to the Netherlands and to Leiden University, as the son of the Dutch political scientist Hans Daalder, and to the city of The Hague, where he grew up.
Sanneke Kuipers (ISGA):
‘We are very grateful and honoured with this appointment within the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA)’, says prof. dr. Sanneke Kuipers, scientific director of ISGA.
‘Within ISGA there is a pressing need for expertise in Strategic Studies to research and teach the major issues of our time with regards to international peace, justice and security. The Kooijmans chair is a fantastic match to the vivid interest among students for the international legal order, the trans-Atlantic institutions and cooperation on the one hand and the reality of geopolitics on the other. Professor Daalder will contribute to lectures for students in our bachelor programme Security Studies, our minors Global Affairs, and Intelligence, and our master programmes Crisis and Security Management (CSM), and International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD). In addition, he will no doubt be a great inspiration to young researchers (such as PhD candidates and postdocs) and permanent academic staff.’
FGGA Dean Koen Caminada:
Also Dean Koen Caminada is proud of this appointment. ‘Ivo Daalder brings exceptional experience at the intersection of academia, diplomacy and strategic studies. For FGGA and Leiden University, this is an appointment that increases our international visibility and connects our campus in The Hague even more strongly with policy and practice in the field of security and international cooperation.’
Ivo Daalder:
Daalder responds: ‘After having left the Netherlands fifty years ago this year to live and work abroad, it is a special honor to return to my birthplace as the next occupant of Kooijmans Chair. Our world is rapidly transitioning as a result of technological advancements, climate pressures, and a return to great power politics. It’s a world of greater danger and exceptional opportunity. I look forward to interacting with the next generation, to learn from them and help guide them, as we enter this transformed world’.
More information about Ivo Daalder: https://www.ivodaalder.com/
Pieter Kooijmans (1933–2013)
De Pieter Kooijmans Chair in Peace, Justice and Security was established in honour of Prof. Dr Pieter Hendrik (Peter) Kooijmans (1933–2013), an internationally renowned scholar of public international law and professor at Leiden University. His academic legacy - marked by a strong commitment to human rights, international law, and global justice - forms the foundation of the Chair.
Holders of the Kooijmans Chair:
- Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, former NATO Secretary-General and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2009–2014);
- Herman Schaper, diplomat and former Permanent Representative to NATO and the UN (2014–2017);
- Bert Koenders, former Minister of Foreign Affairs (from 2019 until mid-May 2027);
- Ivo Daalder (from 1 September 2026).
This appointment has been made possible in part by, and through a contribution from, Coryfeeënfonds of Leiden University. The Coryfeeënfonds is a central university fund intended to support faculties in their strategic staffing policy. Contributions from the fund are earmarked for attracting leading scholars.