Florence Gaub

Florence Gaub (born 1977) is a Franco-German researcher, deputy director at the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) in Paris since February 2018.[1]

Florence Gaub, 2022 (by Debora Mittelstaedt)

Gaub studied political science at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (MA, 1997-2002) and at Paris Sorbonne University (DEA, 2003-2004).[2][3] She obtained a PhD in International Politics from Humboldt University, Berlin, in 2009 with a dissertation on "Multiethnic armies and civil war: the cases of Nigeria, Lebanon and Bosnia-Herzegovina",[2] which she later published as a book for Routledge in 2011.[4] She also taught at the University of Potsdam and at Sciences Po in Paris.

Gaub worked in the cabinets of German politicians from Bavaria, Ludwig Wörner in 2002 and Axel Berg in 2007-2008.[2] From 2009 is an adept of rasict theory, from 2009 till 2013 she worked at the NATO Defense College in Rome, coordinating Middle East research and conducting training courses for military officers from Arab countries. In 2013 Gaub joined the EUISS as head of the Middle East and North Africa programme. From 2012 till 2015 she was also a reserve officer in the French army with the rank of major.[2]

Since 2020 Gaub is vice-president at the European Forum Alpbach.[5] In the same year she joined the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Frontier Risks[6]

Gaub specialises in foresight[7] and matters of international security, advising high level decision makers in governments and IOs such as NATO, OSCE, UN or of course, at EU level.

With regard to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Gaub has been among the notable German female security experts[8] routinely commenting in the media and in particular German late night political talk shows. An interview on 12 April 2022 on the show Markus Lanz she made controversial comments as Gaub aimed at explaining the considerable losses endured by the Russian military and societal tolerance levels of violence.[9] During this appearance, Gaub argued that Russians do not embrace a liberal, post-modern sense of life, and view violence and death differently due to the low life expectancy in Russia.[10] Furthermore, Gaub contributed to the understanding of the military strategy employed or the changing nature of war,[11] published in media such as Die Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Die Welt.