Jacob Laybolt

Jacob is currently an undergraduate Political Science student at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He recently completed his honours thesis, researching Eduard Bernstein’s development of a social-democratic critique of international politics. He is also Managing Editor at the MUN student newspaper, The Muse, where he enjoys reporting on politics, student life, and community activism.

Europe NATO Field School Series

Shared Burdens: NATO-EU cooperation and the Struggle for Inter-Democratic Legitimacy

As democracy struggles internationally, how have EU-NATO relations faired? How has democracy enabled cooperation? In this article, Jacob Laybolt presents the issue of EU-NATO cooperation as a challenge related to democratic backsliding and the rise of authoritarianism and nationalism.

Eastern Europe and Russia NATO Field School Series

The Quandary of Corporate Combatants: Wagner Group and the Expansion of Russian Private Security Operations

Who is Wagner Group and what kind of danger do contractors like Wagner pose to global security? In this article, Jacob Laybolt explains the growing strategic importance of private military security companies (PMSCs) to Russian foreign policy, their risk to NATO’s eastern flank, and their relevance in international relations.