In this article, Vanessa Newby, assistant professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, discusses credibility in peace operations. This article argues that credibility in peace operations must be built for both deterrence and cooperation purposes.

What will it be like to study at Leiden University in 2075?

In this book, Vanessa Newby provides the first detailed examination of credibility’s essential place in peacekeeping.

Niels van Willigen (Institute of Political Science, Leiden University) puts Dutch participation in UN peacekeeping into an historical context. He analyses the reasons for the Dutch withdrawal from the 1990s onwards, and explores the obstacles and opportunities for a structural return. Van Willigen argues…

Gender sidestreaming? Analysing gender mainstreaming in national militaries and international peacekeeping

Tom Buitelaar is an Assistant Professor in the War, Peace & Justice programme of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs. This paper discusses four important challenges to the involvement of UN peace operations in international criminal justice: its effects on host state relations, peace and justice…

Can international organisations be held responsible for violations of international law by peacekeepers in a peacekeeping operation?

Tom Buitelaar assesses how 'agency' is addressed in peacekeeping studies and identifies gaps.

Buitelaar argues that IOs micro-level discourse adapts imperfectly to macro-level changes, balancing adaptation to pressures with commitment to values.

Twenty years after the passing of Resolution 1325, the participation of women as military personnel in peacekeeping operations remains limited. Women currently comprise just under five per cent of military personnel in UN peacekeeping missions, and the UN consistently calls for more.

What will it be like to study at Leiden University in 2075? Ten surprising, artistic uni-visions could be brought to life. It’s up to you to vote for your favourite.

In this article, Tom Buitelaar proposes a systematic framework for analyzing the impact of individual characteristics of peacekeeping leaders on the behaviour of field-level personnel in UN peacekeeping operations.

Adopting a largely chronological approach, Gerrits links the historiography of post-war Europe and the major theoretical approaches to nationalism with analysis of key historical developments and events.

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…

This 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.

Tom Buitelaar is an Assistant Professor in the War, Peace & Justice program of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs. This paper suggests a number of important avenues for states, the UN, and the ICC to improve the likelihood that the ICC receives assistance from UN peace operations.

LEGO creations, a clothesline of visions and a journey into the past and the future: just some of the highlights of Uni-vision day, where creatives developed their vision of the future of study.

National parochialism is the tendency to cooperate more with ingroup than outgroup members. Angelo Romano, Matthias Sutter, James Liu, Toshio Yamagishi & Daniel Balliet studied national parochialism across different nations and conclude in their publication in Nature Communications that it is a ubiquitous…

A global perspective on the nature and evolution of nationalism, from the early modern era to the present.

Honorata Mazepus and Jaroslaw Kantorowicz are assistant professors at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs. Mazepus and Kantorowicz are one of the authors of this article in Nature on the role of national identity on public health support during global pandemics.

A new paper written by Jolien van Breen, Soledad de Lemus, Russell Spears & Toon Kuppens in the British Journal of Social Pscychology examines the impact of the 2008-2012 financial crisis on national identity in Spain.

This PhD project investigates how nationalist ideas are expressed, shaped, and negotiated in Moroccan Malhun poetry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The Role of Law in Libya’s National Reconciliation (RoLLNaR) was a research project that ran from 2017 to 2020. It identified and assessed the role of law – both actual and potential, enabling and constraining – with regard to major challenges of reconciliation in Libya. The project was led by Dr. Suliman…

Madeleine O. Hosli, Professor of International Relations, wrote this book in which she analyses the complex relations between the European Union (EU) as a regional organization and the United Nations (UN) as an international, global governance institution.

What is nationalism and how can we study it from a historical perspective? Writing the History of Nationalism answers this question by examining eleven historical approaches to nationalism studies in theory and practice.

From 1 August 2018, Alanna O'Malley was appointed as Chair of United Nations Studies in Peace and Justice, focusing on the ‘lesser-known actors’ of the UN: women, the youth, the agents of informal diplomatic networks within the UN and actors from the Global South. This Special Chair has been created…

This paper examines cyber intelligence in the context of national and international security.

In the track Intelligence and National Security you will be introduced to intelligence and security services in their political, societal, and bureaucratic contexts. The track will give you a thorough understanding of the modus operandi of these agencies, their interaction with the surrounding world,…

Political Science: National and International Politics is a broad study with a lot of depth. You will study political issues at the local, national and international levels, from a variety of perspectives. You will be taught by renowned, committed professors. In Leiden you will find a real student city…

How do videos, movies and documentaries dedicated to indigenous communities transform the media landscape of South Asia? Based on extensive original research, this book examines how in South Asia popular music videos, activist political clips, movies and documentaries about, by and for indigenous communities…

The main aim of this project is to reveal and unravel the invisible histories of the UN, transcending the dominant Western perspective to recover the historical agency of Global South actors. The research will investigate how the UN has both facilitated and limited their role in shaping global order…

Dutch knowledge institutions are taking steps to recognise and reward open science. On 13 December, the Open Science NL Steering Board approved a total of 1.2 million euros in grants to 23 institutions. The Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) leads the national coordination of the local…

Large carnivore population is globally declining as a result of the fragmentation of habitat, large prey depletion and retaliatory killing by pastoralists.

Tax scandals, like the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers, and the Pandora Papers, have made taxation a major topic of public debate. Learn more about this in the new minor Tax and Society: Building a Sustainable and Fair Tax System.

Explore the MSc in Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict and Development at Leiden University: study governance and diversity, choose elective seminars, complete a thesis and optionally an internship.

Get in touch regarding the MSc Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict and Development at Leiden University, including programme questions and support from the Admissions Office.

This article devises a framework to assess the degree to which human rights bodies provide duplicating or contradicting recommendations to States. Focusing on the case of torture, it creates an original database of recommendations delivered to 14 countries in the years 2012–2016. Results show that duplications…

Madeleine Hosli, Professor of International Relations at Leiden University, together with two other authors, wrote a chapter in Group Politics in UN Multilateralism. This chapter assesses the composition and functioning of the African Union (AU) within the United Nations.

In a podcast episode of 'The Dissenter' Eric Storm talks about his book 'Nationalism: A World History'.

This film will be screened on Sunday, 5 April 2026 at 7:00 pm.

Bandura Witharana defended his thesis on 27 September 2018

Are you thinking about studying Crisis and Security Management: Intelligence and National Security? Learn more and watch the videos.

The Summer School ‘The European Union, the United Nations and Global Governance’ will focus on a range of topics relevant to interactions between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) and the EU’s role within current patterns of global governance.