The central question is whether the current regime of international humanitarian law governing the conduct of hostilities in armed conflict is still adequate to deal with modern conflict scenarios, or whether it needs revision or amendment.

Experience, Narrative, and Criticism in Ancient Greece pursues a new approach to ancient Greek narrative beyond the taxonomies of structuralist narratologies.

Fate and toxicity of copper nanoparticles was related to the water chemistry of the environment and pristine size.

Bacteria have the ability to alter their morphology in order to adapt to changing environments.

This new article by Monica Kaminska is part of a special issue for Journal of Cybersecurity, based on a selection of contributions from THe Hague Program for Cyber Norms' 2019 Conference.

Book by Soledad Valdivia Rivera

Debates on political legitimacy in Dutch parliament in the 1880s, 1930s, and 1960s

On 17 February 2016 Armin Cuyvers was invited to speak at the Liverpool European Law Unit (LELU) in a seminar on ‘Legitimacy and participation in the EU’. In his presentation, entitled ‘National parliaments as training wheels of EU democracy?

Every other year, Leiden University participates in the National Alumni Survey (NAE): a national survey of all recent graduates from Dutch universities. At the end of October 2017, anyone who received a master between October 1 2014 and September 30 2016, will get an email or letter with the request…

Loss of cultural heritage first brings to mind the destruction in the Middle East. But in the Caribbean it is mainly natural processes such as coastal erosion and human interventions driven by economics that are damaging the local natural and cultural heritage. A conference is taking place on Bonaire…

PhD defence

VVI Research Meetings 2023-2024

Political Scientist Valentina Carraro (Leiden University) devises a framework to assess the degree to which United Nations human rights bodies provide duplicating or contradicting recommendations to states. Focusing on the case of torture, she creates an original database of recommendations delivered…

On 5 June 2018 Emile Beenakker defended her doctoral thesis ‘The implementation of international law in the national legal order: A legislative perspective’. The doctoral research was supervised by Professor W.J.M. Voermans.

In this article in International Affairs, Saskia Postema and Jan Melissen examine Chinese celebrities' UN-affiliated Weibo activism in the context of China's increasing engagement in the United Nations, which coincides with a shrinking domestic public sphere under Xi Jinping's leadership.

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…

Subproject of the ERC project 'Challenging the Liberal World Order from Within: The Invisible History of the United Nations and the Global South'.

Various ministries started building nuclear bunkers in the seventies to shield themselves from a possible nuclear attack from the East. One of these nuclear bunkers lies below our new Wijnhaven building. This specific bunker was designed for important figures of government, and was built to function…

Historian Alanna O’Malley has been appointed to a brand-new Professorial Chair in United Nations Studies in Peace and Justice in The Hague. This extra attention for the UN comes at a significant moment in world history, she says.

Leiden University took the initiative for a National Dialogue Network of Diversity Officers. The main goal is to create a platform of knowledge and experience related to the development and implementation of policies on diversity.

“United Nations peacekeeping is a proven investment in global peace, security, and prosperity. Together, let us pledge to do all we can to enable that mission to succeed”. – Secretary-General António Guterres

Dr. Joris Larik, Assistant Professor of Comparative, EU and International Law at LUC The Hague, has co-authored a report entitled 'UN 2.0: Ten Innovations for Global Governance 75 Years beyond San Francisco'.

Drawing on insights from past and contemporary scholars and world leaders, the report explores the concepts of a new social contract, a new global deal, and networked and inclusive multilateralism introduced recently by Secretary-General António Guterres to help the United Nations better grapple with…

Why are the majority of our national holidays based around Christian festivities? Arabist Maurits Berger talks about this in an article on Ruetir.

The construction of the new building for the Faculty of Science is in full progress. The Cell Observatory of the Institute of Biology Leiden will be moving to the new building in the beginning of 2016. Professor Annemarie Meijer and Dr. Marcel Schaaf had a sneak preview.

Neurospyschologist Liza Cornet is the winner of the national final of Famelab. Famelab is an international science communication competition for young researchers. The aim of Famelab is to explain your research as clearly as possible in a maximum of five minutes. No PowerPoint or video and with just…

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.

Quentin Bourgeois and Luc Amrkeutz were interviewed for an National Geographic Historia article about the burial mound research in the Veluwe.

Is it a prehistoric mammoth tooth or just an ordinary pebble? It was National Finds Day at the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities on Saturday 17 June, and Leiden University was one of the collaborating partners.

PhD defence

The European Union has claimed, following its own investigation, that the Dutch government is falling short in how it deals with Dutch nationals convicted abroad, but who want to serve their sentences in the Netherlands. Jannemieke Ouwerkerk, Professor of European Criminal Law, has responded in Dutch…

The Dublin Regulation is under pressure. The Regulation should ensure that refugees are able to apply for asylum in the first country they enter. This pressure is nothing new, says Jorrit Rijpma, Professor of European Law, to Dutch newspaper the Volkskrant.

In this article, Joris Larik and Richard Ponzio grasp the importance of the Summit of the Future to overhaul and strengthen multilateral cooperation in an age of deepening rifts and increasing competition between the great powers. This article argues that a failure to convene a meaningful and ambitious…

Subproject of the ERC project 'Challenging the Liberal World Order from Within: The Invisible History of the United Nations and the Global South'.

The research project ‘The History of National Security, 1945-present', is funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Campus The Hague/Leiden University and the Netherlands Institute for Military History (NIMH). The project will run until the summer of 2013, when we hope…

Algae are not what immediately spring to mind when people think of threatened species. But even among algae there are species that have a difficult time, such as ‘Aegagropila linnaei’. In the magazine BioScience Christian Bödeker describes the worldwide decline of this species. He calls for the species…

Subproject of

Last January, 20th, a new NSE-lunch-discussion took place. The NSE is an annual national survey among all bachelor and master students, and asks them about may topics regarding their programmes. During the lunch discussion, we highlighted several topics that stood out in the NSE-results for our program:…

Guy Livingston’s five-episode sound-art podcast UNDER/CITY/SOUND brings together people with different backgrounds from all over The Hague to share their listening experiences under quarantine.

As an interdisciplinary institute in the field of Security Studies, the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) covers various topics in its research, one of which is the United Nations and the impact of this global organization in the world.

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.