The Terrorism and Political Violence research group at Leiden University examines the causes of radicalisation, the tactics of extremist groups, and the effectiveness of counter-terrorism policies. We also explore the role of the media and the influence of postcolonial legacies in the Global South,…

This book explores the Indian tradition of liberalism through a critical intellectual biography of Valangaiman Sankaranarayana Srinivasa Sastri (1869–1946).

What political factors affect the speed or duration of EU legislative decision-making?

Learn how to apply for the Master's programme Political Theory: Legitimacy and Justice at Leiden University with step-by-step application instructions, document submission via Studielink, and next steps after applying.

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.

This book asks what it means to think globally about world politics. In an attempt to contextualise the recent ‘globalising turn’ in International Relations (IR), it takes stock of more than 30 years of efforts at addressing IR’s Eurocentric limitations, and explores what ‘thinking globally’ means in…

This research will investigate which aspects of On the sublime received attention in the intellectual milieu of the seventeenth century and how the sublime found its way in the political and artistic discourse of that time. Thus I aim to shed light on the role of art in politics and society in this…

Human Rights at Risk brings together social scientists, legal scholars, and humanities scholars to analyze the policy challenges of human rights protection in the twenty-first century.

The project examines the political conflict in the Red River Valley of Louisiana between the majority-black Republican Party and the overwhelmingly white Democratic Party by studying the composition and actions of each party.

Michiel Luining is a Lecturer at the Institute of Public Administration and is especially interested in Eastern and Central Europe.

Election Day is over, but it's by no means clear who the new President of the United States will be. On the morning after Election Day, US expert Sara Polak relects on the results that are in so far, and looks ahead to the coming days.

25 years after the publication of Derrida’s Politics of Friendship (Politiques de l’amitié, 1994), this edited collection gathers 23 critical chapters that revisit this underappreciated text. Engaging closely with Derrida’s text, the contributors analyse, extend and critique the work. They reconsider…

Discover how to prepare for the MSc The Politics of Artificial Intelligence at Leiden University: orientation activities, academic resources, visa guidance, and student support services.

Enhance your MSc in The Politics of Artificial Intelligence with Leiden University’s Honours Academy: choose between the one-year Leiden Leadership Programme (15 EC) or interdisciplinary Master Honours Challenges (3–5 EC) to broaden your skills and impact.

Explore the extra challenge options for the MSc Political Theory: Legitimacy and Justice at Leiden University — including Honour’s Academy programmes, leadership training, and opportunities to deepen your research experience.

Prepare for your MSc Political Theory: Legitimacy and Justice at Leiden University with orientation activities, academic resources, visa guidance, student support and tips for arriving in the Netherlands.

This article examines how immigration from Central and Eastern Europe influences political support for Eurosceptic parties.

Who is Economic Man? Every economic paradigm presupposes an anthropology, a theory of human nature. This project explores the anthropologies presupposed and produced by ancient Greek economic texts, and the specific knowledge forms that shape these anthropologies.

Political scientist Tom Louwerse (Leiden University) and a team of international researchers have been awarded a NWO ORA grant. They are going to investigate political representation in an era in which voter alignment with political parties is steadily decreasing.

On 12 November, Clare Fenwick defended her doctoral thesis, The Political Economy of Immigration and Welfare State Reform: A Collection of Comparative Political and Economic Essays on Human Mobility and Social Protection. The PhD research was supervised by Olaf van Vliet and Kees Goudswaard.

On 15 January 2019, the external relations committee of the Swiss National Council (lower chamber of the Federal Parliament) held a public hearing on the subject of the draft text for an agreement between Switzerland the European Union with new institutional rules for a number of Swiss-EU market acces…

The recent consecration of India’s Ayodhya temple by Prime Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party figurehead Narendra Modi raises important questions. Is secularism giving way to religious rule in the world’s largest democracy? How does this resonate with India’s culturally diverse population? France 24…

Towards the graduation ceremonies, you sense an increasing nervousness. Not only because all the tradition and glamour surrounding the event, also because that will be the day that the winner of the Political Science master’s thesis award will be announced. For 2022-2023, the jury is considering seven…

This thesis attempts to interrogate post-1991-2015 political development in Ethiopia, focusing on the political discourses espoused by the government and opposition, using the discourse analysis method and securitization theory.

BSc degrees: ‘Political Science’, ‘International Relations and Organisations’. MSc degree: Political Science, with specialisations ‘International Organisation’; ‘Dutch Politics; ‘Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and Development’; ‘International Politics’; ‘Political Legitimacy and Justice’; ‘Democracy…

This project will clarify how these concepts operated in theoretical writings on performance ,this broadened conceptual framework will not only give us a clear view on how sublime effects in performance were theorized, it will also provide us a concrete apparatus to understand the cultural and political…

During the corona pandemic, the Chinese government's digital communication with its citizens changed. Hard propaganda was increasingly replaced by ‘soft news’. PhD candidate Dechun Zhang mapped the developments in digital society.

Carl Li defended his thesis on 30 June 2015

The war between Ukraine and Russia is playing out not just on the battlefield but also on the geopolitical playing field of gas. Conflicts at the start of this century about this energy source were, says PhD candidate Ilia Barboutev, a precursor to today’s war.

This article by Malte Reimann and Antonio Cerella explores how politics and medicine have become deeply intertwined, using the thought of Roberto Esposito to reimagine this relationship through the lens of an affirmative biopolitics.

This project aims to provide evidence-based knowledge on the conditions for successful anti-corruption activism in Ukraine.

Christina Toenshoff has been awarded the Virginia Walsh Dissertation Award for her PhD dissertation on corporate climate lobbying. The Leiden Political Scientist, according to the jury, ‘makes a significant contribution to the study of climate and business politics.’

Seminar

Check the application deadlines for the MSc Political Theory: Legitimacy and Justice at Leiden University — visa / residence permit and non‑visa deadlines for September and February intakes.

Note: The Politics of Artificial Intelligence (MSc) application deadlines at Leiden University are 1 April for students requiring a visa, and 15 May for others.