“The ideas from society should be heard in order to narrow the gap between government and the people”. These words from Kwagjin Choi, Korean diplomat and co-architect of South Korea’s People Diplomacy sum up why, in the view of this guest speaker at ISGA, foreign ministries should pay much more attention…

Study information

Claire Vergerio, political scientist at Leiden University, has been awarded a VENI grant by Dutch research organisation NWO. This will allow her to conduct an in-depth analysis of the legal rights and duties of non-state actors involved in warfare. The aim is to tackle some persistent blindspots in…

Politiek Den Haag kan leren van Denemarken, waar minderheidskabinetten de norm zijn en stabieler werken, door constructief samenwerken en betrokken oppositie. Dat schrijft Corné Smit , gastmedewerker staats- en bestuursrecht in een analyse over het minderheidskabinet-Jetten in De Hofvijver van het…

Why are the local parties so popular? Researchers at Leiden University gave their reaction the day after the elections of 21 March.

On 29 February there appeared a column by Maaike Warnaar in the Volkskrant on the Iranian elections.

Leiden law scholars prof. dr. Luc Verhey and Gert Jan Geertjes have edited a book about constitutional conventions and their added value for Dutch constitutional law. The book is published (in Dutch) by editor Boom in Amsterdam.

Lecturer Andrew Gawthorpe of Leiden University discusses in The Conversation the growing influence of far-right activist Laura Loomer in Donald Trump’s administration.

What with coronavirus, the American elections and the Brexit botheration, we had almost forgotten that something miraculous happened in 2020: the repressed people of Belarus rallied against dictator Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years. Months later, what remains of the protest?…

Last Thursday the Dutch House of Representatives held a debate on children being put into care when the childcare benefits scandal (toeslagenaffaire) had caused problems for their families. Four Leiden University academics were asked by the House to produce a fact sheet for this debate, bringing together…

Lecture, Sociolinguistics and Discourse Studies Series

The war in Ukraine has lasted almost two weeks now. What does Putin expect to achieve with his invasion and how big is the chance that the West will get involved? We phoned André Gerrits, professor and expert on Russia.

PhD defence

LUCIR presentation and discussion

PhD defence

Lecture, Research Seminar

Lecture, Global Questions Seminar

Political scientist Femke Bakker (Leiden University) has won the 2019 Jean Blondel PhD Prize. According to the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), her ‘Hawks and Doves: Democratic Peace Theory Revisited’ is best thesis in politics of the past year.

Matthew DiGiuseppe, Associate Professor at the Institute of Political Science at Leiden University, has been awarded an NWO XS grant for his project ‘Political Polarization and Public Support for AI Governance’. The project examines whether growing political polarisation affects citizens’ willingness…

In Poland the commemoration of acts of resistance is being misused to distort the history of the Holocaust. That is what Cleveringa Professor Jan Grabowski said in his inaugural lecture on 26 November. In her lecture, the second Cleveringa Professor, Barbara Engelking, pointed to the often indifferent…

The excuses for the slavery past? It would have been better if the cabinet had taken some more time on that, thinks university lecturer and Atlantic slavery expert Karwan Fatah-Black. 'Too bad they didn’t wait for the results of the study.'

Political scientist Claire Vergerio (Leiden University) has made it to the final stage of the selection process for Central European University’s annual European Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Social Sciences and Humanities. As the 2019 Casimir Prize winner, Vergerio was nominated by the Faculty…

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…

PhD defence

Valedictory lecture

PhD defence

PhD defence

PhD defence

Inaugural lecture

Conference

PhD defence

Suddenly there they were, the Russian soldiers near the border of Ukraine. Since then, reports of tensions between Russia on the one hand and the United States and Europe on the other have dominated the news. What is going on? An interview with Russia expert André Gerrits.

On Thursday 16 November, the Europa Institute had the honour of receiving HE Jana Reinišová, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Netherlands. She delivered a speech in the framework of the European Union Seminar Series, jointly organized by the master’s programme in International Relations, the…

“The union’s 60th birthday is not a moment for gifts and cake, but for reinvention around three new strategic idea. (…) The new Europe must protect, improvise and tolerate opposition”. This is what Prof. Luuk van Middelaa, Professor of Foundations and Practice of the European Union and its Institutions,…

Furious protesters in Budapest and other Hungarian cities demand the departure of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The reason for the large-scale protests is the adaptation of the labor law, especially lucrative for German companies and investors, by the Hungarian prime minister.

Rudy Andeweg, professor of empirical political science at Leiden University, joins the Dutch Electoral Council as of 1 January 2017.

Five questions about the event ‘Germany after the Elections: implications for Foreign Policy and European Security’ answered by one of the experts at the event: Joachim Koops. Come by at the Spanish Steps in Wijnhaven on Friday 15 October or join the event online (link below).

Using the motto 'Exploring humanities through the life of objects' the Thingsthattalk platform gives a voice to historical objects that are usually kept behind closed doors. Objects from various Leiden collections are going to be made public and placed within a historical and user context.

At one time, the railway from Kimberley to Kambove in Southern Africa symbolised prosperity and progress. Today, the exhausted mining towns along its route are marked by decay and pollution. Professor Jan-Bart Gewald has been awarded an NWO L grant to investigate the long-term global consequences.

An Honours Class about the ostensibly unrecognisable worlds of insular Southeast Asia teaches students a fundamental piece of wisdom:

Inaugural lecture

Starting April 2026, Niels van Willigen will join the Institute of Political Science at Leiden University’s Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences as Professor by Special Appointment in Strategic Studies. This appointment was made possible by the Atlantische Commissie, which established this chair…

Lecture

Lecture, Lunch Research Seminar

Lecture

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’.

Grabovski spoke in various media on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January 2022.

Friso Stevens, External PhD candidate at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) at Leiden University, wrote in de Volkskrant on the Chinese investment drive.

Students for Palestine – a group of students from Leiden and The Hague – are holding a panel discussion in the Leiden University in The Hague Wijnhaven building on Tuesday 24 May entitled ‘Silencing Palestine’.