This minor is intended for students with a broad interest in the functioning of the public sector in all its diversity who, in addition, want to contribute to improving public service delivery.

The central research question in this study was twofold: 1. To what extent are the three reconstruction models useful in a reconstruction of the public decision-making process concerning decentralized government between 1947 and 2014? 2. To what extent does the reconstruction of this public decision-making…

Are you thinking about studying Management van de Publieke Sector: Bestuur en Advisering?Learn more and watch the videos. Please note that this programme is taught in Dutch.

Covid-19 is een disruptieve ontwikkeling die hier en nu veel vraagt van zorgprofessionals, bestuurders en managers. Hoewel de crisis nog volop bezig is, is nu al duidelijk dat het Coronavirus een blijvende impact zal hebben op zorginstellingen en fundamentele vragen oproept over hoe we onze zorg optimaal…

This presentation is presented in Dutch

In this article, Antoaneta Dimitrova and others explore what motivates protesters in Central and Eastern Europe.

This book analyses the emergence of modern parties in nineteenth-century Europe and explores their connection with the slowly developing institution of democracy.

On the brink of war, what influences decision makers to attack another country? Using innovative theoretical angles, Femke E. Bakker explores whether the basic assumptions of democratic peace theory are indeed correct. She stresses the microfoundations of conflict, questioning the assumptions on…

The starting hypothesis of the project is that secrecy is not always inimical to democratic governance as conventional wisdom has it.

Although many studies have addressed democracy in education around the world, so far research on democratic education in the context of communist society has been scarce. In the current study, we aim to clarify the concept of democratic value and its manifestation in Vietnam’s schools. In addition,…

Is criminal disenfranchisement compatible with a democratic political order? This article considers this question in light of a recently developed view that criminal disenfranchisement is justified because it expresses our commitment to democratic values.

What is the impact of Indonesia’s democratization process on everyday state-citizen relations?

This project analyses the democratic consequences of increasing decentralization and regionalization in European countries. Through an original approach that foregrounds informal political dynamics, it studies the functioning of democracy in subnational units, and investigates the effects of ever more…

Is there a causal mechanism underlying the decision to attack another country when on the brink of war? If so, does this mechanism differ between regime-types? Political scientist Femke Bakker (Leiden University) addresses this question from a political psychological and comparative perspective and…

How has democracy’s decline affected law making processes, enabling powerful stakeholders’ influence while minimalizing the protection of public interest and the environment?

Democratic citizenship refers to the capacity and willingness of citizens to actively influence the functioning of state institutions. While considered a vital correlate of democratization and the rule of law, its largely western-oriented literature rarely studies the forms of democratic citizenship…

The Chair Democratic Representation in the Kingdom focuses on the political relations between the ‘European’ Netherlands and the six Caribbean islands in the Kingdom; so-called Kingdom Relations. Professor Wouter Veenendaal investigates the quality of democratic representation in the Kingdom, both within…

This dissertation aims to provide a critical view of Vietnamese secondary school stakeholders’ awareness of democratic education regarding the core educational democratic values and democratic acts within either the ‘physical’ or digital learning environment.

On 15 February 2022, Morshed Mannan defended the thesis 'The Emergence of Democratic Firms in the Platform Economy: Drivers, Obstacles, and the Path Ahead'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. I.S. Wuisman and Prof. J.A.A. Adriaanse.

Does the political context (e.g., democracy vs. authoritarianism) influence what makes people perceive authorities as legitimate?

In theory, states can gain security by acquiring internal arms or external allies. Yet the empirical literature offers mixed findings: some studies find arms and allies to be substitutes, while others find them to be complements. Political scientists Matthew Digiuseppe (Leiden University) and Paul Poast…

In this article, Seda Gürkan, Özlem Atikcan and George Christou examine how EU institutions responded to Turkey’s democratic decline between 2014 and 2024, analysing how conditionality was framed and applied by the European Commission, European Parliament and European Council.

In this research note, Van der Does & Kantorowicz aruge that citizens that tend to experience political exclusion are often more supportive of direct and participatory forms of decision-making.

In recent years, the question why citizens (do not) support democratic innovations has attracted increasing academic attention. In this research note, Van Der Does & Kantorowicz for the first time empirically verify what drives citizens’ instrumental considerations in their evaluation of a DI.

This timely and engaging book examines the rise of populism across the globe. Combining insights from linguistics, argumentation theory, rhetoric, legal theory and political theory it offers a fully integrated characterization of the form and content of populist discourse.

On 9 January 2019, Willem van der Muur defended his thesis 'Land rights and the forces of adat in democratizing Indonesia'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. dr. A.W. Bedner and Prof. dr. J.M. Otto.

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.

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.

Since its inception, a central preoccupation of and for the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been the nature of its relationship to national jurisdictions. Complementarity—the idea that the Court is intended to supplement, not supplant, national jurisdictions—has been the dominant juridical logic…

Special Issue Workshop Res Publica

Transparency is seen as an important value for democratic government policy. Does that mean that we should do away with state secrets, such as confidential information involving intelligence agencies and political deals made behind closed doors? Political philosopher and ERC grant recipient Dorota Mokrosinska…

This thesis presents a detailed description of the phonology, the tone system and the grammar of Liko, a Bantu language spoken by about 70,000 people in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It provides numerous examples.

Grote technologiebedrijven hebben zoveel macht dat ze functioneren als staten zonder democratische controle. Volgens Reijer Passchier, universitair docent staatsrecht en hoogleraar digitalisering en de democratische rechtsstaat (OU), vormt dat een groeiend risico voor de rechtsstaat en vergroot het…

The Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law of Leiden University has published a collection of research essays on the separation of powers. This collection addresses the main question of whether the historically developed combination of concepts of democratic legitimacy and the separation…

China is a one-party regime, yet elections are held for the local congresses. PhD candidate Wang Zhongyuan investigated how the Communist Party uses this democratic instrument to strengthen the authoritarian regime. PhD defence 31 January.

INFLUEX examines the influence of experts on public policy, aiming to define, measure, and explain their role in democratic policymaking

It appears that interest groups are increasingly finding their way to court or other ways of making use of the legal system as a means for societal change. Over the summer, Rowie Stolk, PhD candidate at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law was one of the speakers at the workshop ‘Legal…

Dr. Kosta presented at the Global Forum on Democratizing Work.

On Tuesday 19 January 2016, dr. Nelleke Koffeman LL.M, assistant professor at the Europa Instituut of Leiden Law School, appeared as a guest on the radio show ‘Juridische Zaken’ (‘Legal Affairs’) for the Dutch national radio channel BNR Nieuwsradio to discuss the proposal by the Alliance of Liberals…

Reijer Passchier, hoogleraar digitalisering en de democratische rechtsstaat aan de Open Universiteit en universitair docent staatsrecht in Leiden, waarschuwt in een opiniestuk in de Volkskrant, voor de alsmaar toenemende invloed van grote technologiebedrijven ten koste van de democratische rechtssta…

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

In the past years access to EU law has been significantly enhanced via services such as EUR-Lex. This development not only allows for easy retrieval of individual legal acts, but for collecting information about the evolution of EU law in the aggregate as well.

‘Foreign policy’ may seem to the general public to be merely an official response to problems entering the nation from across the border. Yet the political reach of diplomacy has extended, and diplomats will have to find ways to engage more with home citizens, including those who feel sidelined and…

In an op-ed and an interview in Dutch newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’, Reijer Passchier, Assistant Professor in Constitutional Law at Leiden University and Professor of Digitalisation and the Democratic Constitutional State at the Open University, stresses that Europe needs to take radical steps to tackle…

Education at the Institute of Public Administration focuses on the broad study of public administration, including the semi-public sector, lobby organisations, civil society, and relevant private organisations.

The Rutte-III coalition agreement has been presented and the commentary is flooding in. Public administration experts Arco Timmermans and Gerard Breeman examined the new agreement – as they have done for every coalition agreement since 1963 - and made a systematic analysis of it: it is very much about…