‘Intelligence and security services need to adapt urgently to their constantly changing environment,’ says Professor by Special Appointment Bas Rietjens.

Leila Zerrougui (born in Algeria 1956) is a legal expert on human rights, justice, and rule of law. She is the current Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). Before she was Special Representative…

The rule of law is crumbling in the Netherlands, lawyer Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You warned in her Cleveringa Lecture.

LUCIR (Leiden University’s Centre for International Relations), in cooperation with ISGA (Institute of Security and Global Affairs) and GTGC (Global Transformations and Global Challenges Initiative), will host a conference on 2 and 3 December 2021 about the lessons that may be learned from Afghanistan.…

The war in Ukraine is entering a new phase with the announcement of a partial Russian military mobilisation and the intention to annex four Ukrainian regions. Why is Putin making these decisions just now and what consequences will they have for the course of the war? We talk to professor and Russia…

The Grotius Centre Working Paper Series is an occasional series through which researchers in the Grotius Centre can publish the unedited versions of manuscripts that have been accepted for publication by journals and books.

‘Seated behind her desk, she initiated and influenced embassies, conventions, ambassadorial meetings, sieges, and skirmishes that had kept a war-torn early modern Europe in its grip.’ This is how Nadine Akkerman, researcher as the Leiden Institute for Cultural Disciplines and author of The Correspondence…

A mega-dam around Europe is a possible solution as protection against rising sea levels. Whether that is really a good idea, was debated on by young professionals during the debate on the future of European coastal protection. 'A big dam may seem safe, but actually isn't,' argued debate winner Haye…

The Military Information and Security Service (MIVD) prevented a Russian hacker attack on the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague. Scientists Paul Abels, Willemijn Aerts, Constant Hijzen and Sergei Boeke of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs responded to…

Jihadism and smugglers, gold fever and ethnic strive. It is a toxic mix that makes the Sahel a volatile region in which jihadi's thrive. In the Dutch daily De Volkskant, terrorism expert Liesbeth van de Heide sheds a light on the complex problems that the Sahel is facing. Van der Heide is a researcher…

On 10 May 1940, the Netherlands was taken completely by surprise by the attack of the German army. Wasn’t it? In his dissertation, Wouter Linmans debunks the idea that the Second World War took the Netherlands by surprise. ‘From 1935 onwards, all major political parties wanted to invest in the military.’…

Twenty students and alumni from our faculty recently went on a working visit to NATO. Led by Leiden alumna Beaudine Verhoek (MA in International Relations), who is now Officer for Political Affairs and Security Policy at NATO, we were treated to an informative programme at the organisation’s brand-new…

The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel exports the technology of occupation around the world, Antony Lowenstein, Verso Books, 2023

Leiden University’s Institute for Security and Global Affairs and Dual PhD Centre jointly organize an online lecture on 23 April, 15.00 hrs by Cleveringa Professor General Roméo Dallaire on “How a better world is possible”: Cooperation between Science and Practice.

From 11-13 April 2019, a group of 11 students from LUC and the Advanced MSc. programme in International Relations and Diplomacy attended the event NATO@70 in Portugal – Countering hybrid threats with hybrid containment: NATO’s mission for the 21st century. Leiden University’s participation in the event…

The Hague Journal of Diplomacy regularly publishes book reviews of approx. 800-1000 words, upon invitation by our Book Reviews Editor. We are currently accepting reviews of the selected books below, as well as any other contribution within the field of diplomacy and global affairs.

Dennis Braekmans receives funding from the Byvanckfonds for the research

‘Qasr Bshir is magnificent even in decline. It sits majestically in the landscape, master of all it surveys. On approaching the site, however, it is clear that the structure is damaged’, states the latest issue of the journal Current World Archaeology.

Between the early thirteenth and early sixteenth centuries CE, the Sultanate of Cairo affected the balances of power elites across and beyond the regions of Egypt, Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean. Modern historiography has for a long time been determined by the idea of this sultanate as a highly…

Every year, the Netherlands and Belgium Red Cross organize the Frits Kalshoven International Humanitarian Law Moot Court Competition, which brings together students from both Dutch and Belgian universities.

On March 12, the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) – a partner institute of the CTC - invited Associate Fellow Dr. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross to present his latest publication on Libya.

Who should try the fallen Sudanese president Bashir? The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague wants to put the former dictator on trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur, but the Sudanese military is refusing to hand him over and wants to try him in their own…

What insights do eleven social Facebook-accounts of Dutch and Belgic foreign fighters offer with respect to the phenomenon of so-called returnees?

On 8 March 2021, International Women’s Day, Vanessa Newby was a panelist at the online discussion ‘Breaking Barriers – Women in Peacekeeping’, organized by A4P WPS Champions Ireland, Germany, South Africa and Bangladesh together with UNSCR 1325 architect, Namibia.

Dutch agents, military personnel, prosecution personnel and diplomats in Ukraine have been spied on by intelligence services from Ukraine and Russia after the MH17 disaster. Reliable sources reported this to RTL Nieuws. The espionage by Ukraine is very sensitive, because it is highly unusual that espionage…

Willemijn Aerdts, lecturer at ISGA discusses the warning issued by the MIVD (Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service) to put away your phone when discussing sensitive or private matters.

Commenting live on the Italian TV RaiNews 24, Marina Calculli (LIAS) suggested to view the recent escalation between the United States and Iran as the result of domestic and regional constraints on both countries.

Luuk van Middelaar, Professor of Foundations and Practice of the European Union and its Institutions, recently wrote an op-ed in Dutch daily newspaper NRC.

Cecily Rose, Assistant Professor at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, has been involved in informing media reports about the recent provisional measures order delivered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Gambia v Myanmar case.

President Zelensky of Ukraine has asked the UN International Court of Justice to issue an urgent order to stop Russian military activity in his country. According to Zelensky, Russia has twisted the concept of genocide to justify aggression.

Each month we will be spotlighting material we have been reading, or that have been recommended to us that relate to AI and a particular theme.

Conference, INVISIHIST Pre-Conference

Episode 1: The Golden Horde in a Global Perspective: Imperial Strategies. This project intends to challenge the conventional way of considering the nomadic state organizations and the role of Nomads in world history.

Leiden Asia Departments

Athens is universally known as a symbol of democracy, philosophy, and ancient Greek aesthetics. Some of the most famous classical monuments, including the Parthenon and the temple of Hephaestus, can be found here.

How did changes in the composition and exploitation of princely domains in various principalities of the Low Countries influence the development of ‘modern’ public finance systems, including the notion of public debt?

Postcolonial Displacements explores the multiple ways in which migration in South Asia contributes to the imagining, questioning, subverting and reframing of territories, nations and communities. The project focuses on the contested fringes of the politically divided South Asian subcontinent, across…

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.

How were Spanish commanders fighting in the Low Countries between 1567 and 1577 portrayed in Spanish and Dutch narrative sources during the Eighty Years War?

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The impact of a ceasefire shifts over the course of a conflict, as conflict party leaders learn more about each other’s military and political aspirations and adapt their use of ceasefires accordingly. That’s the key message of the dissertation of Valerie Sticher, PhD-candidate at the Faculty of Governance…

Debate

Following Trump’s resounding victory over his Republican arch-rival in Iowa, it's clear that standing by passively and giving Biden the benefit of the doubt is not an option. Luuk van Middelaar, Professor of Foundations and Practice of the European Union and its Institutions, warns in his column in…

Conference, Workshop and book presentation

It doesn’t take long before Tim van Lit has told us what interests him: problems that shake the nation. This 28-year-old Criminology alumnus heads a team of 25 at Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. Location: Schiphol Airport.