Are you thinking about studying International Relations? Learn more about the programme and watch the general introduction video.

Building on the recent initiative to truly globalize the field of international relations, this book provides an innovative interrogation of regionalism.

Understanding the complexities of world affairs requires an ability to think critically and to draw insights from a variety of perspectives, sources, and analytic frames. Leiden University’s Master of Arts in International Relations addresses these needs through distinctive humanities-based training…

The Team International Relations and European Studies addresses the interconnections and interdependence of contemporary global political, economic, security and culture from a multidisciplinary perspective rooted in the humanities. More specifically it is concerned with the study of international relations…

Conference

Are you interested in international organisations, issues of peace and security, or current changes in global political relations? Would you like to study the causes of terrorism and the resolution of violent conflicts? Develop your scholarship and skills in international affairs in The Hague.

The two-year Advanced MSc IRD programme offers you a unique blend of academic education in international relations and political science with practical graduate education and training in international negotiation and diplomacy.

Are you thinking about studying International Relations and Diplomacy? Learn more and watch the videos.

Research in the International Relations and European Studies Team addresses the interconnections and interdependence of contemporary global political, economic and cultural affairs from a multidisciplinary perspective rooted in the humanities.

Are you thinking about studying International Relations: Culture and Politics? Learn more and watch the introduction video.

This project studies social distance—the degree of sympathetic understanding that exists between people—in relation to state foreign policy making. Does, and if so how does, social distance shape political biases, aid narratives, and, ultimately, state foreign policy priorities and decisions?

Are you thinking about studying Global Political Economy? Learn more and watch the introduction video.

Are you thinking about studying European Union Studies? Learn more and watch the introduction video.

International Relations and European Politics is one of the three organisational clusters of the Institute of Political Science.

In this chapter of the Elgar Encyclopedia of International Relations, Carraro explores how expertise is defined and contested in International Relations.

The Leiden University Centre for International Relations (LUCIR) is a multi-disciplinary platform promoting research and education on international relations at Leiden University.

Study information

Are you thinking about studying Global Order in Historical Perspective? Learn more and watch the introduction video.

Study information, Online Experience

This book offers readers an alternative history of the origins of the discipline of International Relations.

This book questions the accepted origins of the field of International Relations (IR). Commonly understood to have emerged from the horrors of WW1 with the goal of bringing about world peace, the authors argue that on the contrary, IR came from a somewhat less noble tradition – that of the Round Tab…

Are you thinking about studying Global Conflict in the Modern Era? Learn more and watch the introduction video.

Article by Leiden University political scientist Daniel Thomas about shifting norms for membership in international organisations.

Reasserting America in the 1970s brings together two areas of burgeoning scholarly interest.

On Wednesday 19 October 2022, the graduation ceremony for the International Relations MA programme took place. In the Teylerszaal of the Academy Building, the cohort of Master's students received their diploma.

Leiden University’s Institute of Political Science is looking for four assistant professors in International Relations. Application deadline: 1 March 2017.

Vivian Ng came back to Leiden last June to finally sign the walls of the Sweat Room. Graduated in 2020 during the pandemic, she missed out on this wonderful tradition, like so many others. While enjoying a day off in Leiden, we talked about her time as a student and her current job.

On 18 January 2025, the Annual Reconnect & Gala of the Advanced MSc International Relations and Diplomacy (MIRD) celebrated over 20 years of bringing together current MIRD students, alumni, and faculty members. This year’s discussions focused on the theme: 'The Future of IR: Digital Innovation, Climate…

Nichiran kankei-shi o yomitoku [Revisiting the History of Dutch-Japanese Relations] is a new, two-volume Japanese publication with a chapter written by Wulan Remmelink. Both volumes offer a new look on the historical relations between Japan and The Netherlands during the Edo period by examining various…

'After my BA International Studies I decided to do the MA International Relations, and that proved to be a good choice,' Mats Radeck (23, Trier, Germany) says. He is in the last phase of the MA, working on his thesis on

Violence during war often involves upswings and downturns that have, to date, been insufficiently explained. Why does violence at a particular point in time increase in intensity and why do actors in war decrease the level of violence at other points? Duyvesteyn discusses the potential explanatory variables…

Legitimacy is generally a term that is associated with the state. The term surfaces when there are problems with state legitimacy—when it is lacking or absent. This present volume attempts to think through the relevance of the concept of legitimacy for other political actors than the state.