The leading textbook on governance and politics in the Netherlands. The authors offer a clear and comprehensive account and have revised the text to provide full coverage of recent important developments.

We live in a data-drenched society awash with numbers. An inhabitant of the democratic polis of Athens (5th and 4th centuries B.C.E.) increasingly found himself surrounded by numerical data. This project aims to analyze the communicative functions and the political meaning(s) ascribed to these public…

LEGITIMULT examines how Covid-19 measures by governments impact multilevel governance and democratic governance in 31 European countries

Debate

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

What drives the behaviour of accountability forums?

Democracy in Action is a Horizon Europe-funded initiative exploring how grassroots movements, cultural spaces, and digital innovations can strengthen democratic participation. With a special focus on youth, women, ethnic minorities and night culture, we bring together researchers, grassroots movements,…

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…

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,…

A History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe is a synthetic work, authored by an international team of researchers, covering twenty national cultures and 250 years. It goes beyond the conventional nation-centered narratives and presents a novel vision especially sensitive to the cross-cultural…

The future of Europe as a community of democratic states is deeply uncertain. The European Union, founded to promote ‘ever closer’ integration, aims nominally for peaceful, prosperous cooperation. But this ideal has been battered by a series of bruising crises, and now by war.

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…

Boundaries in the collaboration between private and public interests are more blurred in the US than Europe, says Reijer Passchier, Professor of Digitalisation and the Democratic Constitutional State at the Open University and Assistant Professor in Constitutional Law in Leiden, in ‘de Volkskrant’.

Reijer Passchier, universitair staatsrecht en hoogleraar digitalisering en de democratische rechtsstaat aan de OU, waarschuwt in HP/De Tijd hoe weinig controle we werkelijk hebben over kunstmatige intelligentie, terwijl machtige bedrijven steeds meer invloed krijgen op onze democratische samenleving…

Political scientist Simon Otjes (Leiden University) receives a grant from The Dutch Research Council (NWO). The grant is part of the SGW Open Competition XS, which aims to stimulate innovative scientific research within the Social Sciences and Humanities domain. Otjes receives the grant for his research…

Reijer Passchier, universitair docent staatsrecht en hoogleraar digitalisering en de democratische rechtsstaat (OU), reageert in het FTM scherp op de recente gang van zaken rond de rolverdeling in Nederlandse digitaliseringsstrategie.

This Research project is funded by the 7th European Community Framework Programme, with additional funds from NWO Aspasia grant, and in collaboration with University of California, Berkeley.

This research cluster is a part of the Institute of Political Science’s research programme ‘Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviour’. Its members focus on the democratic role of citizens and the representative links between voters and politicians.

This article studies the perceived legitimacy of EU enforcement actions.

Stam defended his dissertation ‘Freedom of speech and the suppression of discrimination in the Netherlands: a constitutional-developmental approach’ on 12 November 2025. The doctoral research was supervised by Afshan Ellian and Bastiaan Rijpkema

Conference

‘Vrijwel elke kritische reflectie op AI en de richting waarin AI zich op dit moment ontwikkelt, ontbreekt’, zegt Reijer Passchier, hoogleraar digitalisering en de democratische rechtsstaat aan de OU en universitair docent staatsrecht in Leiden, in een opiniestuk in de Volkskrant.

In het radioprogramma Spraakmakers becommentarieert Reijer Passchier, universitair docent staatsrecht en hoogleraar digitalisering en de democratische rechtsstaat (OU), de stelling: 'moet er een minister van digitale zaken komen?'

Antoaneta Dimitrova, Professor Comparative Governance at Leiden University, Honorata Mazepus, Assistant professor at Leiden University and Dimiter Toshkov, Associate Professor at Leiden University, together with three other authors researched which aspects of state capacity might contribute to opening…

Prior to the 2020 presidential election, historians considered the disputed 1876 contest—which pitted Republican Rutherford B. Hayes against Democrat Samuel J. Tilden—the most controversial in American history.

The aim of this project is to study what makes an act or form of violence a specifically political reality.

Research within the centre is broad and pluralistic, ranging from the history of political thought to contemporary analytic and continental political philosophy and critical social theory. Members of the CPP also participate in the Research Profile Area on Political Legitimacy. The Centre is the proud…

Explore the MSc Democracy and Representation at Leiden University: examine challenges facing modern democracies—populism, representation, media influence—and enhance your analytical skills.

Team History of Africa and the Americas

Discover the MSc Democracy and Representation at Leiden University: a structured and intensive programme focusing on democratic challenges like populism and polarization, with electives, research thesis, and small-group teaching.

You will learn how agencies collect information, analyse threats, and support political decision-making, while exploring intelligence failures, democratic oversight, historical practices, and contemporary challenges such as nuclear proliferation and intelligence operations in authoritarian regimes.

Digitalisering raakt iedereen, maar speelt nauwelijks een rol in verkiezingsdebatten. In een opiniestuk in de Volkskrant pleit Reijer Passchier, universitair docent staatsrecht en hoogleraar digitalisering aan de OU voor politieke urgentie en visie op digitale vraagstukken.

In this article, Gerrit Dijkstra and Jos Raadschelders from the Institute of Public Administration, argue that Bosnia-Herzegovina survives so far on the basis of negative legitimacy.

The chaotic years after the Civil War are often seen as a time of uniquely American idealism—a revolutionary attempt to rebuild the nation that paved the way for the civil rights movement of the twentieth century. But Adam Fairclough rejects this prevailing view, challenging prominent historians such…

In this article, Honorata Mazepus, assistant professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, and Dimiter Toshkov, associate professor at the Institute of Public Administration, discuss whether the winner–loser gap extends beyond the political domain to subjective health and well-being as…

On 14 January 2021, Joost Westerweel defended his thesis 'Lokale democratische innovatie'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. G. Boogaard and Prof. M.J. Cohen.

What does the interspecies interpretation of the equality principle mean for the liberal democracy, and is it possible to provide for an appropriate legal and political position for animals without defying the classic-liberal principles of the liberal democratic state?

This research cluster is a part of the Institute of Political Science’s research programme ‘Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviour’. Its members study phenomena such as migration, immigration, citizenship, integration, ethnic parties, minority and caste-based politics, borders and migration,…

Beyond the immediately visible plenum, parliaments are highly complex institutions. They work through various venues in which decisions are prepared or even taken. The two main institutions in this regard are parliamentary party groups, which comprise legislators who are elected under the same party…

The institute hosts criminal lawyers and criminologists who engage in high-quality scientific research that is also relevant for society.

Undermining can be described as behaviour and actions which (threaten to) cause harm to the democratic legal order. This is a Dutch speaking course in The Hague.

Lecture

On Wednesday, 14 May 2025, Catherine O'Regan will deliver the annual Van Vollenhoven Lecture

Our research group Intelligence and Security, provides a diverse range of educational opportunities that combine theoretical foundations with practical applications in intelligence and security.

Do you have to be able to say everything on Twitter and Facebook? Is Instagram morally obliged to remove photos from attacks? Should we allow the terrorist group to recruit new members on the internet?