Stephan Klose (PhD VUB) is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS) and the Centre for Migration, Diversity and Justice (CMDJ) of the Brussels School of Governance, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Stephan’s research interests include EU foreign policy, EU-Asia relations, international friendship and role theory. He currently works on the ERC project SINATRA which examines the EU’s evolving relations with the United States and China.

Keywords: Transatlantic friendship, EU-Japan friendship, dysfunctional friendships, friendship studies and role theory