The Centre for European Security Studies (CESS)
(http://www.cess.org/)
The Centre for European Security Studies is an independent research, education and training enterprise dedicated to encouraging informed debate on security matters and to promoting and sustaining democratic structures and processes in foreign and defence policy-making across the whole of Europe. It is based in the north of the Netherlands. Its mission is to promote transparent, accountable and effective government in the security sector. In pursuit of this aim, CESS conducts research, provides policy advice, holds debates, organises roundtable discussions and offers training courses. They are able to carry out such a wide range of activities thanks to the co-operation of a wide network experts and partners, mostly based in Europe.
In fulfillment of this aim CESS nurtures and supports the institutions and individuals that attaining these goals requires. Moreover, the Centre encourages international collaborative effort in all its work: in the interest of fostering mutual understanding in the security field (broadly defined), and in the belief that extending and strengthening such understanding is crucial to the evolution of a stable all-European order of civil societies under the rule of law.