Tech giants such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft are increasingly shaping the digital world we live in. Reijer Passchier cautions: 'Urgent measures are needed to curb this influence.'

In the midterm elections in the United States on 6 November, the Democrats won the majority in the House of Representatives, thus regaining control of the House over the Republicans. But the Republicans expanded their majority in the Senate. Three of our researchers, experts on US politics, share their…

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is one of the three priority areas of Leiden University, which was established by its Executive Board in 2014. The objective is to set up a comprehensive strategy.

Let’s get this out of the way: Hillary Clinton won the 26 September 2016 presidential candidates television debate. Handily.

Impressions by Oene de Haan - PhD candidate at Utrecht University.

My research project focuses on the development of a popular national agency in late nineteenth century Amsterdam and the question how ‘ordinary’ citizens imagined ‘the Netherlands’ through the experience and use of their urban surroundings.

The energy transition is a complex transformation process that is not only about technology -moving towards renewable energy sources-, but even more so about societal and institutional change. The energy transition requires and provides opportunities for actors to take on new roles.

Distinguished Fellows of Leiden University College The Hague are acknowledged for their extensive and outstanding expertise in the private or public sector, and for their intellectual contributions to LUC’s academic programme and scholarly community.

ICLON conducts research into primary and secondary education.

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

Strategic direction of the GTGC initiative lies with a Steering Group, composed of seven members from four Leiden University faculties. Chaired by Leiden's Professor of Global Transformations and Governance Challenges, the Steering Group addresses questions such as overall vision, staffing, communications,…

How can we deal with today’s global challenges in sustainable, peaceful, fair, democratic, and effective ways? How can global events such as geopolitical shifts, ecological changes, technological innovations, and pandemics be better governed? Addressing these complex questions requires innovative, multidisciplinary…

In recent decades, the Netherlands’ struggle with multiculturalism has caused an upsurge in public interest in the relationship between state and religion. In this, the Dutch address a subject relevant not just to them, but to all of Europe.

'Technology, law and justice' is one of Leiden Law School's four research focus areas.

Leiden University hosts a wide range of seminars and workshops on themes related to European approaches to societal challenges. Some of these are listed below.

How should the international community of states respond to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity? How can the perpetrators of international crimes be brought to justice? How can international crimes be prevented? How can the international community of states promote international consensus…

Leiden experts examine European legislation and ways in which better European legislation lead to citizens' support.

Research on this theme addresses the systemic risks faced by European societies and affecting the quality of life of European citizens.

Interest groups play an important role in democratic society.

This article argues that, given the current pervasive uncertainty about the reliability of jury deliberation, we ought to treat it with epistemic humility.

Are there general principles or values that should govern our actions as moral agents and/or as political subjects?

The quest for Trustworthy AI is high on both the political and the research agenda, and it actually constitutes TAILOR’s first research objective (H1) of developing the foundations for Trustworthy AI. It is concerned with designing and developing AI systems that incorporate the safeguards that make…

11th CREAN Children’s Rights Research PhD Symposium

The rise of authoritarianism, the strengthening of the radical right, and the role of the EU in defending democracy—these are just a few of the issues causing concern today. Is the EU capable of defending democratic values within the Union and beyond its borders? In an interview from the Lithuanian…

Do political knowledge and democratic values encourage young people to participate in politics or not? Political Scientist Leila Demarest had a closer look at adolescents’ participation intentions in Nigeria and shared her findings with The Conversation.

Dorota Mokrosinska, University Lecturer of philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy has been selected for a Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Faculty Fellowship at the University Center for Human Values at Princeton for the 2019-2020 academic year.

At an extraordinary summit held in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, the ECOWAS states have decided to impose a string of economic, financial and diplomatic measures against Mali.

On 1 October 2022, Reijer Passchier was appointed as Professor Digitalisation and the Democratic Constitutional State at the Open University. Reijer is also working at Leiden University as Assistant Professor at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law.

On June 16, 2025, the Institute of Political Science at Leiden University hosted a panel debate about the ongoing mass student-led protests in Serbia. The protests have shaken the increasingly illiberal regime in Serbia to its core and have grown into the largest student protests in Europe since 196…

Legal proceedings conducted on behalf of apes and animals who are starved for the purpose of an ecological project. What position do animals actually have in the rule of law? And what changes need to be made? PhD candidate Janneke Vink defends her dissertation on 10 October.

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 ‘School of Democracy’ is an initiative of several Dutch political foundations to reach out to young Morrocans, to support and motivate them to strengthen democracy worldwide, starting from their own environment. Are you a young adult, with an interest in politics and democracy, with a hunger…

The NORFACE-funded DEEPEN project on the democratic governance of funded occupational pension schemes that is located at the Institute of Public Administration of Leiden University, Linz university, University College Dublin, and University Carlos III of Madrid will be presenting first research results…

What does digitalisation mean for the labour market, the business sector and society in general? Reijer Passchier, Assistant Professor Leiden Law School and Professor of Digitalisation and the Democratic Constitutional State at the Open University, spoke at a meeting of the Social and Economic Council…

Many people wish for political transparency in The Hague. However, political philosopher Dorota Mokrosinska argues in an article in the Dutch newspaper Trouw that there are certain advantages to political secrecy. She states that politicians are better at compromising with one another behind closed…

Fourteen transnational consortia of which seven with Dutch researchers have received funding from the European NORFACE network within the theme ‘Democratic governance in a turbulent age’. Two of them are FGGA researchers Natascha van der Zwan and Caelesta Braun.

In a time of growing polarisation and declining trust, the rule of law is under pressure. The system as we know it today only took shape 177 years ago, with the constitutional reform of 1848. Carla Hoetink emphasises: ‘The democratic rule of law was originally designed to prevent violence and revolu…

The Grotius Centre, in collaboration with Duke Law School, will be hosting the Duke-Leiden Institute in Global and Transnational Law from 16 June to 17 July 2019 in The Hague, the International City of Peace and Justice. Applications for the second edition are now open!

As both old and new democracies experience increasing democratic backsliding, there is a critical societal need to rethink the design and effectiveness of democratic checks and balances. In this conference on Friday 9 June, the aim is to explore multidisciplinary insights about what makes the checks…

Is the legitimacy of law and governance of multilevel jurisdictions diminishing? What is the significance of (diminishing) legitimacy for the effectiveness of law? These kinds of questions about the legitimacy of the supranational formation of law, its application, and the policy and governance based…

Political scientists study topics that affect society, but their work often remains out of the spotlight. Not always: the research of Leiden political scientist Simon Otjes does have a visible impact.

Political scientists study topics that affect society, but their work often remains out of the spotlight. Not always: the research of Leiden political scientist Simon Otjes does have a visible impact.

Two research projects focused on democracy and citizen collectives have been awarded grants through the 2024 round of the National Science Agenda’s (NWA) ‘Onderzoek op Routes door Consortia (ORC)’. Each project will receive around €6.8 million to get started immediately.

A fair distribution of goods and services is the most important factor in justifying political power. This is the conclusion of Honorata Mazepus in her PhD dissertation 'What makes authorities legitimate in the eyes of citizens?' PhD defence September.

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.

Since April 2023 the current war in Sudan has brought larger death, destruction, and displacement than any other ongoing armed conflict on earth. This dialogue brought together wise thinkers and excellent speakers from academia, civil society, policymakers, and youth to discuss how peace can be brought…

The Executive Board has decided to appoint Dr. Antoaneta Dimitrova as Professor Comparative Governance within the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, starting on 1 September 2017.

In the current political situation of Bulgaria, it seems that a long-term caretaker government is the only viable option at the moment. Dimiter Toshkov, Antoaneta Dimitrova and Bernard Steunenberg of FGGA analyse what the Bulgarian caretaker government can learn from its Dutch counterpart.