Municipalities are increasingly attempting to solve problems without issuing decisions. A notification procedure (notification – investigation – application – decision) has recently been introduced that replaces part of the traditional application procedure. Ymre Schuurmans, Professor of Constitutional…

The Dutch cabinet formation – a process that has now been underway for five months – is at a standstill for the time being. Formation discussion leaders Elbert Dijkgraaf and Richard van Zwol are due to publish their report in mid-May. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional Law, updates listeners…

In his report, Dutch cabinet negotiator Kim Putters proposes the formation of a ‘programme cabinet’ and an outline agreement. The four political parties involved have agreed on this form of cabinet, and Putters therefore appears to have succeeded in his mission. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional…

Dutch Mayor Eddy Bilder has once again come under scrutiny over his ancillary positions. He was previously the subject of negative media attention due to his role as landlord and now as a regulator of the foundation Stichting Het Oversticht. Geerten Boogaard, Professor of Local Government, discussed…

Voters sent a clear signal in the recent Dutch provincial council elections with the 'monster' victory for the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BoerBurgerBeweging, BBB). This sign of ‘social resistance’ has consequences for the policy on nitrogen emissions, according to Geerten Boogaard, Professor of Local…

The most recent edition of the journal ‘The Theory and Practice of Legislation’ contains a contribution by Jelle But, Demy Jongkind and Wim Voermans.

Fundamental rights protect citizens from the government, but they are not absolute. A crisis situation not only gives the government the opportunity to restrict freedoms, it also shows citizens how far it is willing to go in doing so. ‘In the [Dutch] cabinets led by Rutte, there seems to be less and…

Over poep, pies en de beerput

It recently became clear that the Dutch Ministry of Health would rather pay a penalty than share information about the controversial face mask deal with former CDA party activist Sywert van Lienden. Dutch news site Nieuwsuur reports that this is no exception. In recent years newspaper De Volkskrant…

On 4 April 2024, a meeting of the standing committee of the Dutch House of Representatives was held. At this meeting, Anna Marhold, Assistant Professor at the Grotius Centre and Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional Law, informed the committee about the economic and legal implications of a military…

Two years ago, Russian tanks crossed the border into Ukraine. The war seems to be getting closer and closer. Is it time to dust off and reintroduce military service? Our students have their say.

The Netherlands Council of State ruled at the end of March that WhatsApp and text messages on the work and private cell phones of civil servants are considered to be official records. This decision puts the government in a difficult position. How are you going to store millions of texts and WhatsApp…

Climate change is a hot topic and constantly in the news. Thousands of Dutch high school students protested at the Malieveld in The Hague. News website Nu.nl has barred climate change deniers from their comments section to prevent ‘fake news’. How does climate change impact the research community, and…

De decentralisaties van de zorg aan langdurig zieken en ouderen, jeugdzorg, en werk en inkomen die vanaf 2015 zijn doorgevoerd in Nederland hebben geleid tot een transitie van een centraal naar een lokaal stelsel van zorg en welzijn. Deze transitie beoogt zorg en ondersteuning dichter bij de inwoners…

LUCIS organiseerde op woensdag 4 maart een speciale avond over journalistiek in Irak. Journaliste Judit Neurink en programmamaker Sakir Khader vertelden over hun ervaringen en recente werkzaamheden in het land. De avond stond onder leiding van Wendelmoet Boersema (politiek redacteur van dagblad Trou…

This regulation – also known as the AI Act – aims to ensure that AI systems sold and used in the EU are safe and consistent with existing fundamental rights legislation and Union values. AI harvests its factual material on the Internet, but in some cases it can be misleading. This is sufficient reason…

Hans-Martien ten Napel recently published a volume with Routledge, Culture, Secularization, and Democracy; Lessons from Alexis de Tocqueville, co-edited with Prof. Sophie van Bijsterveld (Radboud University Nijmegen).

Public authorities are increasingly being fined for failure to comply with decision periods specified in the Dutch Open Government Act (Woo). But to what extent is this remedy still effective? Geerten Boogaard, Professor of Local Government, discussed this on 'Mr.', a recognised platform for legal professionals…

The Global Summit on Constitutionalism took place from 16 to 18 March. Wim Voermans, Gert Jan Geertjes and Rowie Stolk, from the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, travelled to Austin where the conference was organised by the School of Law of the University of Texas at Austin.

On Monday 18 March at 10:45 a deadly shooting took place on the 24 Oktoberplein in Utrecht, killing three people and severely injuring five others. Leiden University expresses its solidarity with the families left behind in the wake of this horrendous and regrettable incident. Several researchers of…

The acquittal of Richard de Mos and his fellow party member has caused quite a stir in the Netherlands. Can De Mos simply return to local politics now? And has the issue finally been settled?

Recently, Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, and Jaroslaw Kantorowicz, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs and a research associate at the Department of Economics, were awarded a grant from the KNAW Statesman Thorbecke Fund. This grant will…

After the kick-off on 28 November, the next ILS Lunch Seminar will take place on Monday 19 December. During this lunch seminar series all researchers from Leiden Law School can present their research. The idea is to hear in a simple and nice way what researchers from other research programs and institutes…

The first ILS Lunch Seminar of 2017 will take place on Monday 30 January. During this lunch seminar series all researchers from Leiden Law School can present their research. The idea is to hear in a simple and nice way what researchers from other research programs and institutes are working on. During…

An investigation carried out by Dutch news programme Nieuwsuur has revealed that despite a recent ruling by the Centrale Raad van Beroep (Central Appeals Tribunal, CRvB), people who for years cared for a seriously ill relative paid for via a PGB (persoonsgebondenbudget, personal care budget) do not…

The jubilee conference for the centenary of the Vereniging van Drentse Gemeenten (the association of municipalities in the province of Drenthe) took place on 23 September. The conference focussed on the collaboration between the municipalities, the province and the water boards in Drenthe past, present,…

How do democracies develop? The Institute for History is devoting a three-day conference to this question.

PhD defence

Festival

Lecture

The research project ‘The History of National Security, 1945-present', is funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Campus The Hague/Leiden University and the Netherlands Institute for Military History (NIMH). The project will run until the summer of 2013, when we hope…

Lecture

Arts and culture, Book launch

Lecture

Op 9 juni jl. vond in de rechtenfaculteitskamer van het Leidse Academiegebouw een workshop plaats over tradities en aanpalende concepten, zoals politieke cultuur, spelregels en constitutionele conventies. Tijdens de bijeenkomst presenteerden en bediscussieerden juristen, historici, politicologen en…

Fifteen knowledge institutions and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science have signed the covenant for Open Science NL. Leiden University has also joined the covenant, via the Universities of the Netherlands. This marks the start of the Dutch Research Council’s and brings the transition to open…

In February 2015 Lauren Lauret started her PhD project titled 'Meeting practices of the Dutch States General and the continuity of the early modern world of the political (1780-1848)' at the Institute for History, supervised by prof. H. te Velde.

Five projects with a lead applicant from Leiden will receive an Open Science Fund grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

Tussen de sterren is niet alleen leegte. Er zweven ook stoffen als methanol en koolstofdioxide. Chemische theorieën kunnen nog niet verklaren hoe die zijn ontstaan onder omstandigheden die dat juist onmogelijk zouden moeten maken. Fedor Goumans gaat met een Veni-beurs proberen die vraag te beantwoor…

This is a good time for it to happen, in the opinion of Professor of Fatherlands History, Henk te Velde. The abdication of Queen Beatrix is a good starting point for celebrating 200 years of the Dutch monarchy, in 2013. Te Velde is a member of the National Committee for 200 Years of Monarchy: 'By standing…

Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative law, travelled to São Paolo, Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro from 14 to 18 March with a delegation from Leiden University with the aim of strengthening ties with Brazil. During the visit agreements were made on future academic collaboration and…

Met groot plezier heeft de Universiteit Leiden van 1 tot 4 november het X Congreso Internacional de la Asociación de Hispanistas del Benelux (AHBx) georganiseerd, met het thema Transhispanismos: contactos y contagios (Transhispanismes: contact en besmetting). De AHBx is een platform in de Benelux dat…

A big performance by André Rieu, food trucks in The Hague and more contact with the Royal Family: grand plans were announced in April to make the State Opening of Parliament (Prinsjesdag) a real ‘crowd puller’. For this year, however, we will just have to make do with slight differences in emphasis.…

Jan de Vetten brengt zijn promotieonderzoek ook uit in boekvorm. ‘In de ban van goed en fout’ beschrijft voor het eerst - op basis van archiefonderzoek en interviews - op samenhangende wijze de bestrijding van de CP en CD, en ook de reactie daarop van die partijen. Waarom werden ze zo fel werden bestreden?…

It is one of the most famous moments in Dutch TV history: the twenty-three hour long marathon broadcast of Open het Dorp. But what happened to the commune for people with disabilities after that? Monika Baár and Paul van Trigt received a NWO grant of 750,000 euros to map the development of Het Dorp.

Conference, Symposium

Study information

We started this year as we ended it in 2021: in a lockdown. But the world continues to open up. We are occasionally allowed to go into the office and students are able to return to Campus. Continue reading to find out what the rest of the year has been like.

Conference