This paper explores whether multilateral surveillance and policy coordination under the ES was based on a path-changing or a path-dependent mechanism

Femke Bakker, political scientist at Leiden University, has been awarded a grant from the IPRAF (International Peace Research Organization Foundation) for her PhD research into the influence of political culture of different political regimes on individuals of these societies.

Why do some parties fail to settle conflict, even after long periods of fighting? ISGA PhD candidate Valerie Sticher suggests that costly concessions often stand in the way of a negotiated agreement. Conflict party members not only care about their in-group's welfare, but also want to avoid rewarding…

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 did the life course, with all its biological, social and cultural aspects, influence the lives, writings, and art of the inhabitants of early medieval England?

Who doesn’t want peace? Yet we don’t always appreciate how fragile it really is. This is why Leiden University was a co-organiser of the Just Peace Festival from 21 to 25 September 2016.

On December 5th, Matthias Pache succesfully defended his doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Matthias on this great result.

Since April 2023 the current war in Sudan has brought larger death, destruction, and displacement than any other ongoing armed conflict on earth. This dialogue brought together wise thinkers and excellent speakers from academia, civil society, policymakers, and youth to discuss how peace can be brought…

Eighty years after 1945, Europe again faces war in its own region. How to turn this tide and have sustainable peace in Europe? To discuss this question, this dialogue looked at the experience of war in Ukraine; Russia's role in Europe; lessons of Europe’s history for future peace; the values underpinning…

What is the relationship between democracy and peace? Do the two go hand in hand, so that less democracy means less peace? Or can democracy work against peace: for example, by producing protectionist and militarist governments? Or is there something more deeply wrong with democracy as we know it, such…

Thirty years ago, pioneers of the internet expected that this new technology would be a force for freedom, democracy, justice and peace. Yet today digital communications often involve human rights abuses, criminal activity, disinformation, gender-based violence, and cyber warfare. How can we turn these…

What are you going to do for peace and justice? What will your contribution be to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals? And who or what do you need to make sure your idea has impact? Come to Humanity House in The Hague on 21 September.

Today’s world faces large-scale climate change and other environmental disruptions. Meeting these challenges involves major adjustments to economy and society, with substantial potential for conflict and violence. This dialogue assembled leading authorities on the relationship between climate and peace,…

The Just Peace festival is coming up shortly. From 21 to 24 September we will be celebrating peace in The Hague with some inspiring HagueTalks, the Peace in the Park festival and the annual Peace Run.

The Just Peace Festival's first edition is live! The Opening Event marked the beginning of two weeks filled with activities to reflect on what peace and justice mean in today's world.

The history of sign languages of deaf people is severely understudied. The historical linguistics of sign languages offers a fundamentally new perspective on the history of human languages. This project addresses the dearth of knowledge about historical sign language linguistics through a large-scale…

This project investigates how sign languages change and spread over time, and how this is influenced by their transmission history.

What makes a good historian? When historians raise this question, as they have done for centuries, they often do so to highlight that certain personal attitudes or dispositions are indispensable or studying the past. Yet their vieuws on what virtues, skills or competencies historians need most differ…

On 17 March 2023, GTGC co-organized an event on Inclusive Peace in Ukraine together with Leiden University College, the Institute of Global Affairs at Leiden University, the UN University of Peace, and Peace Analytics. The event discussed the peace process in Ukraine and uncovered views from both theory…

This was the fourth panel of the Just Peace Dialogues.

Den Haag is de stad van vrede en recht. Rondom deze thema’s organiseren culturele en maatschappelijke organisaties het festival. De Universiteit Leiden is nauw betrokken bij de organisatie. Universitaire medewerkers en studenten doen bijvoorbeeld mee aan de Vredesloop, Marieke Liem van het Institute…

On Friday 1 April 2022, Tom Buitelaar presented his work to the Conflict, Peace and Security thematic area during a research feedback seminar. The title of his work was 'the Agency of Individuals in UN Peace Operations.'

The project aims to explore Eurasian elk's role in the ecosystems of the past and its relationship with humans through analysis of its distribution and habitat in the Netherlands.

On 10 December 2021, the GTGC Conflict, Peace and Security thematic group organized a research seminar. In this seminar, Tahir Abbas, from the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, presented a draft on ERC grant application on the inter-generational…

On 5 November 2021, GTGC Conflict, Peace and Security thematic group organized a research seminar about Migration across the Mediterranean. In this seminar, Eugenio Cusumano from the Institute of History at Leiden University, presented a paper on Migration across the Mediterranean.

On 1 October 2021, GTGC Conflict, Peace and Security thematic group organized a research feedback session. In this session, Hilde van Meegdenburg's from Leiden University presented a theory chapter for her planned book about the Narrative Basis of Foreign Policy: On the use of Private Military and…

On the 22nd of February, Ami Okabe successfully defended a doctoral thesis. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Ami on this achievement!

How have human-environmental entanglements changed in the Gulf of San Miguel, Darien, Panama, from the first traces human practices through to the present?

How did disability become a global concern? In this project we will identify the contribution of international agencies, governmental and non-governmental organizations and, just as importantly, disabled people themselves, to the IYDP and by showing the connections, interactions and entanglements between…

On 23 September, the Leiden alderman for the Management of Public Space was presented with a Ginkgo Biloba in the Blekerspark. This special 'Peace Tree' was grown from a seed from a tree that survived the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima. The Peace Tree is being temporarily housed in Leiden's Hortus…

The imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan, PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, called for a peace settlement between Turkey and PKK on 28 February 2015.

Political scientist Nicolas Blarel (Leiden University) analyses the background and implications of India’s prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel.

When did the Mali Empire disintegrate? What does the Sunjata heritage demonstrate about the political situation after 1600?

On the 12th of November, Xander Vertegaal successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Xander on this achievement!

In his groundbreaking Imagined Communities, first published in 1983, Benedict Anderson argued that members of a community experience a

On 6 May 2022, Alies Jansen presented her work on 'Security Force Assistance in Iraq' to the Conflict, Peace and Security thematic area during a research feedback seminar.

On Friday 4 March 2022, Matthew Hoye presented his work on 'OFAC’s War in Afghanistan: Two Theories on Famine and Sanctions' to the Conflict, Peace and Security thematic area during a research feedback seminar.

On 15 May 2025, a roundtable '80 Years of Peace in Europe?' was convened with students and staff at Leiden University to reflect on the anniversary of the end of World War II.

Knowledge and culture subproject 3:

This thesis studied in depth the energy use and CO2 emissions of the industrial sector in China.

Should the law and norms applicable to armed conflict include a distinct category covering the transition from armed conflict to peace, jus post bellum, and if so what are its characteristics?

Every year, the city of The Hague and its partners organise the Peace Run. This year a mixed team of staff and students from the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA) will take part! The aim of the Peace Run (a 5 or 10km run linking various peace related institutions in the city) is to raise…