Nederland ligt in de periferie van het verhaal van menswording. De evolutie van onze familie vindt lang exclusief in Afrika plaats. En, als Europa eenmaal bewoond wordt door mensachtigen, ligt het zwaartepunt ten zuiden van onze streken. Toch heeft ons land een aantal interessante vindplaatsen en vondsten…

On 2 September 2021, Gert Jan Geertjes defended his thesis 'Staatsrecht en conventie in Nederland en het Verenigd Koninkrijk'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. L.F.M. Verhey and Prof. W.J.M. Voermans.

Interaction between Legal Systems acknowledges that law-making and law enforcement are increasingly taking place on various levels: in a global context, in EU context, on a national level and in a private law framework. These levels influence each other, sometimes directly, on the basis of a hierarchical…

This dissertation presents a new perspective on the life, work and character of the Dutch physical chemist Jacobus Henricus van ’t Hoff, first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and one of the most important and colourful scientists in Dutch history. The image of Van ’t Hoff that emerges from…

Profile Area Political Legitimacy, Leiden University

On Thursday 30 May 2024 Corrie van Maris successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

A new Senate (Eerste Kamer) has been elected in the Netherlands and the current government coalition has lost its majority. The majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer) have not been this far apart for quite some time. High time to merge both chambers, argues Wim…

The Leiden Research Profile Area Political Legitimacy organizes a public symposium on the 12th of May 2016 on the legitimacy and future of the Dutch Senate.

De minister van BZK heeft op 17 oktober het onderzoeksrapport ”Openbaarmaking van overheidsinformatie. Een rechtsvergelijkend onderzoek naar wetgeving in Zweden, het Verenigd Koninkrijk, Duitsland, Frankrijk, Slovenië en Estland” aangeboden aan de Tweede en Eerste Kamer. Het rapport is geschreven door…

MPs in the Netherlands are first and foremost motivated by their direct environment, i.e. the parliamentary and partisan institutions.

Vanaf september 2025 biedt de Faculteit Governance and Global Affairs de bacheloropleiding Cybersecurity & Cybercrime aan. Deze unieke Nederlandstalige opleiding leidt studenten op tot veelzijdige cyberexperts. ‘Er is veel vraag naar specialisten op het gebied van cybersecurity en cybercrime’.

The battle for a strong power position in the run up to the provincial council elections in the Netherlands is currently being fought fiercely. Prime Minister Mark Rutte has become accustomed to a minority in the Senate in recent years. The four Rutte cabinets were always able to do business with various…

Nico Schrijver and Niels Blokker (Grotius Centre, Public International Law) organised a seminar on the role of non-permanent members of the UN Security Council on 11 and 12 May. The seminar was held with the involvement of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the Netherlands will be a member of…

Political scientists Tom Louwerse, Simon Otjes & Cynthia van Vonno introduce the Dutch Parliamentary Behaviour Dataset, a record of parliamentary (voting) behaviour in the Dutch Tweede Kamer (Second Chamber, House of Representatives) since 1945.

PhD candidates are encouraged to start thinking about job prospects well before the defence of their thesis. Many PhD graduates find employment in an academic or semi-academic environment.

Political scientist Ruud Koole (Institute Political Science, Leiden University) has been appointed to a state commission that will investigate whether the Dutch parliamentary system and the parliamentary democracy need to be reformed.

The promise made in the run-up to the last Dutch elections that the ‘next cabinet formation process will be quicker and more transparent’ has already proven unrealistic. To what extent does a minority Dutch government stand a chance in the Netherlands’ fragmented political landscape? Corné Smit, external…

In the article, Ruth Prins gives her opinion on the possible consequences chosen mayors might have for the police.

For most of the past ten years, Europe has been in a state of ‘crisis’. The bank crisis mutated seamlessly via the Euro crisis to the present migrant crisis. Whereas previously the general assumption was that even closer cooperation within the European Union was a foregone conclusion, the EU is now…

We would all like to live in a world in which individuals feel safe, conflicts are resolved peacefully and the interests of future generations are taken into consideration. At Leiden University legal scholars investigate to what extent public international law meets the needs of a globalised society.…

Ries Kamphof conducted research into European sustainability policies; his findings are that the European Committee very rarely uses her authority. ‘The member states are very protective when it comes to taking action to protect the climate.’ PhD ceremony on 22 November 2018.

The Dutch Minister for Infrastructure and Watermanagement Cora van Nieuwenhuizen has offered the first copy of the book ‘Behind and Beyond the Chicago Convention: The Evolution of Aerial Sovereignty’ to the Secretary-General of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

University lecturer Lauren Lauret has been awarded the D.J. Veegens Prize 2022 for her dissertation on the meeting practices of the States General during the time of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces compared to those of the Lower House during the first half of the 19th century.

Schatten uit het oude Armenië

Pieter Omtzigt, a strong contender in the polls for the Dutch general elections with his New Social Contract party (NSC), has said he would prefer to remain in parliament as party leader. He is not saying who the NSC candidate for prime minister might be and will only reveal this after the elections.…

Medici kunnen veel repareren, maar ziekte voorkomen of uitstellen is beter. Daarvoor is vaak leefstijlverandering nodig en dat blijkt lastig. Gezondheidswetenschappers Sandra van Dijk (Universiteit Leiden) en Valentijn Visch (TU Delft) doen onderzoek naar de vraag hoe je mensen kunt helpen met gedragsverandering…

Now that the government has collapsed, the Netherlands will have to vote once more. The elections will not take place before November, says the Electoral Council. The Electoral Act sets deadlines for various steps to be taken before new elections can take place. The fact that the summer recess and autumn…

Dit rapport maakt deel uit van het project Receptenboek burgerparticipatie in opdracht van de Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) en met steun van het Fonds voor Cultuurparticipatie.

Een kwantitatief onderzoek naar historische Nederlandse scheepswrakken in de wereld

Op 30 oktober presenteerde de Commissie tot Revisie van het Reglement van Orde, onder voorzitterschap van Kees van der Staaij (SGP), haar bevindingen aan Kamervoorzitter Khadija Arib.

GroenLinks member of the Dutch House of Representatives Lisa Westerveld has put forward parliamentary questions in response to the dissertation by Maria de Jong-de Kruif, who was awarded a doctorate degree on 7 March 2019 following her research on secure youth care institutions.

Several studies into the prevalence of child abuse in the Netherlands were conducted on behalf of the Ministries of Security and Justice and of Health, Welfare and Sport, the Samson Committee and the WODC.

Marietje Beemsterboer defended her thesis on 12 June 2018 (in Dutch)

Polls conducted by I&O research point to a political landslide. What's in store for the Netherlands? The polls show that the new party of MP Pieter Omtzigt is well-positioned for the upcoming election, with an expected 31 seats, but only 3 for the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA) party. It is obvious…

Hugo de Jonge, currently Minister of Housing, has chosen to appear before the Dutch House of Representatives to talk about his time as ‘Covid Minister’. This sets a dangerous precedent according to Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional Law at Leiden University. However, under Dutch constitutional…

Voor zowel archeologen, paleontologen en geologen als vrijwilligers in de archeologie en paleontologie is het geen verrassing meer dat op de stranden van de Nederlandse kust fraaie vondsten gedaan kunnen worden. Vele artikelen, boeken, tentoonstellingen, congressen, lezingen, ‘zoekdagen’, krantenberichten,…

To what extent do beginning teachers use, create and claim agency at their school?

Interested in studying Modern Languages at Leiden University? Find out what our alumni said about this master's programme.

Is the current existing legal framework on compulsory and voluntary care - for vulnerable young adults (between the ages of 18 to 23) - in need of revision? And if so, what kind of amendments would be advisable?

The moment is there: LUGO can finally announce the winner of the Sustainability Award 2020!

The moment is there: LUGO can finally announce the winner of the Sustainability Award 2020!

Do objectively correct solutions to ethical dilemmas exist? Or is ethics always a matter of your opinion against my opinion? How do you know what to do? What kind of thing is ethics anyway? Can you be an expert in ethics?

De menselijke geschiedenis strekt zich ver uit vóór de tijd waarin de mensen opschreven wat er zoal gebeurde.

Promotor: Prof.dr. E.F. Smets, Co-promotor: Dr. V.S.F.T. Merckx

De Nederlandse geschiedenis is nauw verbonden met die van de wereld als geheel. Door migratie, handel en kennisuitwisseling beïnvloedden mensen elkaar over grotere afstanden en intensiever dan we lang dachten. Wereldgeschiedenis van Nederland toonde in meer dan honderd verhalen hoe internationaal de…

Mattias Brand defended his thesis on 10 April 2019

C.R. Hermans (2012). Facsimile-editie van Noordbrabants Oudheden aangevuld met enkele Archeologische Mengelwerken.