Stay in touch with the recent developments at the faculty!

The University of St Andrews and Leiden University, with the support of a network grant from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, will be hosting a workshop series in 2022 about Ocean Governance. Academics, policy makers, and practitioners are invited to contribute via working papers. Deadline abstract:…

This one-year, English-taught Master's programme offers insights on general developments as well as the specific challenges in the field of the governance of crisis and security, with in-depth knowledge of sub-fields of crisis and security management.

This one-year, English-taught Master's programme offers insights on general developments as well as the specific challenges in the field of the governance of crisis and security, with in-depth knowledge of sub-fields of crisis and security management.

The GTGC seed grant project on Governing Digital Platforms organised a two-day workshop on 18-19 January 2024, bringing together scholars and practitioners from diverse epistemologies, positionalities, geographic regions, and disciplines – with a focus on ethics and (political) philosophy, anthropology,…

On 23 November 2022, Jan Aart Scholte contributed to a roundtable of the Networking Channel on 'The Transforming Challenges of Internet Governance'. Click here to find out more about the event.

On 17 October 2022, Jan Aart Scholte contributed to a conference plenary roundtable on 'From Internet Governance to Digital Political Economy'. Click here to find out more about the event.

On 10 May, GTGC Chair Prof. Jan Aart Scholte, presented the paper ‘Legitimacy in Global Governance: A Cross-Level Analysis’ at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy.

A ‘new governance culture’ – a hot topic for a number of years now. What kind of culture of public administration do we have in the Netherlands and how do you change it? This question is the focus of the podcast Het Spel & De Macht (the Game & the Power). Each episode considers one theme related to…

The manner and context in which the government supports citizens' initiatives are often more important than the legal framework. In practice, it only creates unnecessary division and there are no solid grounds for it. Esmée Driessen, PhD candidate at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative…

Poama and Theuns co-wrote an opinion piece on why voting in prison should be mandatory worldwide. It appeared on National Interest's website on February 12.

The University of Reading will host an online workshop on 27 April 2021. It is aimed at early career and postgraduate research historians focusing on the area of medieval finance. The deadline for submissions is: 19 February 2021.

Within the research project "Governing and Building the City: Mirrors for Magistrates as a Lieu for Theoretical Reflection on Architecture," there are currently two vacancies for a doctoral student and a post-doctoral researcher. Candidates can apply until May 15, 2024.

This research cluster is a part of the Institute of Political Science’s research programme ‘Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviour’. Its members focus on the democratic role of citizens and the representative links between voters and politicians.

Hybrid Workshop: In person and online on 26 – 27 January 2023.

Politics is about the authorised allocation of values: who gets what, when and how much? This question is relevant at many different levels, in many different places and in very different ways.

Minister of Digitalisation Alexandra van Huffelen will give a guest lecture on the government’s ambitions in the field of digitalisation on Monday 12 September. Bram Klievink, professor Digitalisation and Public Policy and founder of The Hague Centre for Digital Governance will act as mediator. ‘Digitalisation…

Antoaneta Dimitrova, Professor Comparative Governance at Leiden University, Honorata Mazepus, Assistant professor at Leiden University and Dimiter Toshkov, Associate Professor at Leiden University, together with three other authors researched which aspects of state capacity might contribute to opening…

Stam defended his dissertation ‘Freedom of speech and the suppression of discrimination in the Netherlands: a constitutional-developmental approach’ on 12 November 2025. The doctoral research was supervised by Afshan Ellian and Bastiaan Rijpkema

Wout Broekema is shortlisted for the Els Witte Prize 2019, an award for best Doctoral dissertation in political science. The prize is instated by the Nederlandse Kring voor de wetenschap der Politiek (NKWP).

A fragmented political landscape, permanent pressure from current affairs and an increasingly political civil service: our government faces many challenges. This makes it all the more difficult to make important decisions about pensions or the climate. Research and good education can help meet the challenges…

This article offers an inaugural assessment of how silences implicate international law-making in cyberspace through descriptive and normative lenses.

The aim of this project is to study what makes an act or form of violence a specifically political reality.

A team of researchers based at Leiden has taken over the editorship of the journal Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations. For the first time, the journal will now be based outside the United States. The new Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor Alanna O'Malley…

All players on the world stage operate strategically in order to safeguard their interests. Political scientists at Leiden University cast light on this volatile interplay of forces. Their research helps voters, NGOs, governments and international organizations make smart choices in this complex and…

The government is investing 646 million euros and has set aside a further 3.5 billion to drive economic growth in the Netherlands. Much of the National Growth Fund will be used for scientific innovations. Leiden University is involved in three of the projects.

On 20 February 2019, a special meeting on data science took place in the House of Representatives. The aim of the meeting was to start a dialogue with government organisations about data developments within the government.

The Institute of Public Administration in The Hague conducts leading research on contemporary policy and management processes within the public sector.

Professor Anne Meuwese is calling on governments to show more vulnerability when it comes to providing information about how they function.

What drives public agencies’ propensity to engage in more extensive practices and/or to initiate more far-reaching mechanisms of accountability than those mandated by law? In other words, what are the drivers of voluntary accountability?

Saskia van Otterloo works as a policy advisor on climate adaptation at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management in the Netherlands. She graduated in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in cultural anthropology and development sociology. How does her knowledge of anthropology help her in her job…

Essential services risk being taken over by US Big Tech companies, affecting privacy and digital sovereignty in the Netherlands. Reijer Passchier, Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law and Professor of Digitalisation and the Democratic Rule of Law at OU, co-authored an opinion piece in ‘de Volkskrant’…

Local authorities face numerous major issues in different neighbourhoods, all requiring different approaches and solutions. With this study, Leiden University aims to gain a better understanding of how residents from every neighbourhood in The Hague think and act on such issues. This insight will help…

Major developments worldwide are creating new challenges for society. The pandemic has hit us hard, for example, and we are already feeling the effects of global warming. How can society and politics deal with the urgent problems of our time? That is the theme of the Global Transformations and Governance…

Terrorism only poses a small risk to people but tends to be a major source of public fear. Through fear, terrorism has far-reaching implications for public governance.

Donald Trump's US election victory is causing major concerns in many countries, including Iran. Afshin Ellian, Professor of Jurisprudence, spoke about this on Dutch all-news radio station BNR: ‘Denying that they're worried is really just for show’.

Power and money are not enough for big tech entrepreneurs who are investing billions in digital nations. Reijer Passchier, Professor of Digitalisation and the Democratic Rule of Law (OU) and Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law, and Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional Law, share their concerns…

Eduard Fosch-Villaronga from eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies, together with Hadassah Drukarch and Carlos Calleja, explores how compliance tools could be used as data generators for policy purposes to optimise regulatory frameworks for existing and emerging robot technologies.

In a new Transforming Society article, Salvador Santino Regilme, Associate Professor and Chair of the International Relations Program at Leiden University, critiques the Trump administration’s US–China tariff war as a covert instrument of domestic class warfare.

Applications are now open for the Summer School ‘The European Union, the United Nations and Global Governance’ (12 - 23 June 2023) for Master-level and PhD students. The activity is supported by the European Union’s Jean Monnet programme (Erasmus+).

De EU stelt vereenvoudigingen voor in digitale regelgeving - zoals minder frequente cookiemeldingen - maar tegenstanders waarschuwen voor een gevaarlijke concessie aan grote Amerikaanse techbedrijven Reijer Passchier, universitair docent staatsrecht en hoogleraar digitalisering en de democratische…

Explore the MSc Democracy and Representation at Leiden University: examine challenges facing modern democracies—populism, representation, media influence—and enhance your analytical skills.

Team History of Africa and the Americas

Discover the MSc Democracy and Representation at Leiden University: a structured and intensive programme focusing on democratic challenges like populism and polarization, with electives, research thesis, and small-group teaching.

You will learn how agencies collect information, analyse threats, and support political decision-making, while exploring intelligence failures, democratic oversight, historical practices, and contemporary challenges such as nuclear proliferation and intelligence operations in authoritarian regimes.

Our research group Intelligence and Security, provides a diverse range of educational opportunities that combine theoretical foundations with practical applications in intelligence and security.

NETHATE is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) project seeking to investigate the roots, societal impact and mitigation strategies of hate in offline and online foras.

What does the interspecies interpretation of the equality principle mean for the liberal democracy, and is it possible to provide for an appropriate legal and political position for animals without defying the classic-liberal principles of the liberal democratic state?