Marije Balt: On a Mission to Prevent War

By Brenda Ramich

05 April 2021

Marije Balt is an outgoing, inspiring and passionate faculty lecturer in the International Relations Department at Webster Leiden. Former diplomat and now Executive Secretary at the Advisory Council of International Affairs, she is originally from the Netherlands, based in The Hague. As a student she was eager to get out and experience other places. This was during the time the Berlin wall had fallen, so she moved to Budapest, Hungary and wrote her International Relations thesis there. In Budapest she met other students who came to study from Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia. They did not want to stay - and sometimes have to fight - in war.

This situation sparked her curiosity: “How is it possible during these times that there are still wars going on European soil?” That is when her passion for conflict resolution and peace building started. Ms. Balt got her bachelor’s in Political Science in Amsterdam & Budapest and master’s in International Relations. In the late 1990s, she moved to Brussels and worked with the European Union for several years. She was involved in negotiations with the Balkan countries for membership of the European Union. In her view, that was the best way to help prevent war and to promote prosperity.

Professor Balt really enjoyed negotiating about complex international issues and joined the diplomatic service.  She worked as a diplomat for the Dutch government for 12 years. Part of that was a posting at the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Kenya. Upon her return, Balt was full of energy and wanted to do more than sitting in the office. She left the ministry, started an advisory firm, worked in challenging places like Mali and taught courses at Webster from 2013 on. She shares what she has learned in her career and creates some amazing simulations for classes; the most recent one with former NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

“The thing that inspires me the most is Teaching”

Brenda: What have you gained from your experiences studying abroad or working abroad?

Marije: I look at myself so differently. To put your identity and whole reference framework in perspective is refreshing. It is also challenging, because you do not really know how you should behave or speak. When I was in Hungary, I did not know the language. It made it very hard, but when I learned Hungarian, I felt more connected: the smile that you see on people's faces is just unforgettable.

Brenda: Wow. That is so impressive and very true. Many people really appreciate when you speak their language. How many languages do you speak?

Marije: In addition to my native language Dutch, I speak English, French, Italian, German and some Hungarian and Swahili. Learning languages is another great passion of mine, and it was useful especially going into diplomacy. Once, when working in Florence, Italy, I had to learn Italian in only a few months as people did not speak any other language there. My background in classical languages like Latin and Greek turned out to be very helpful. So when we visited Rome with the diplomatic academy a few years later, I was able to do a whole speech in Italian at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That was fun.

Brenda: What is it that you do at Webster and teach?

Picture: Setting up a project in Mali 2013

Marije: I’ve taught a number of Bachelor and Master courses: International security, International organization, European Union, and some practical courses like How to Work for NGO’s.

Some of my favorite courses to teach are Politics of Development, in which I can share what I worked on in African countries such as Kenya, Mali and Somalia. Same for Politics of Peace and Conduct of Foreign Policy, to which I invite diplomats as guest speakers.

What is so cool about teaching is that you are not only focusing on wisdom from books and theories, but actually learning skills. The wonderful thing about Webster is that I am not the only former diplomat who teaches, and we bring students to places like the Court and Ministry of Affairs, to meet with practitioners and learn about how things work behind the scenes. I also organize simulations with role play and reality-based scenarios.

Our most recent simulation was about diplomatic negotiations between four countries: Turkey, France, The Netherlands and Germany, with former NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer as the guest speaker. It is about one of the most complex conflict situations in the world:  Libya. There has been a war going on and during the simulation we practiced the skills to deal with complex situations.

Brenda: What are the career opportunities after graduating with a degree in International Relations?

Marije: Many career opportunities are available. Most students tend to work in courts, diplomacy and government sectors, join the United Nations or work for non-profit organizations.

International Relations is about working towards change, towards a better world. A good way to get into IR is study history, read daily newspapers, (Washington Post, New York Times, etc.) and be interested in history and patterns and relations between countries. Learning languages is not only useful for an international career, it will gain sympathy from others if you give it a try. Take that opportunity to stay or work abroad, it opens up the world to you. The earlier the better.

“Keep going, work hard, it will be helpful when going to practical issues.”

Brenda: How has this experience changed with Covid-19 and switching to online?

Marije: Of course, it is more difficult to teach certain skills through online classes, but I find that it actually has been going well. I am excited to be able to still teach and having good internet in being able to teach this and it is still very valuable. Many may still stress the downsides of this, but the internet connection here in the Netherlands is really good: many things just continued online. I give feedback online and students are able to contact me much easier. It is more flexible; this period has been teaching us new skills: the future is online.

The best way for students to contact Marije Balt is through LinkedIn and on Twitter.

–LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marije-balt-359a5b5/

–Twitter: @MarijeBalt.