Explore student life in the MSc Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict and Development at Leiden University: student associations, events, extracurricular activities, and living in The Hague.

The Hague is the international city of peace and justice, home to many international organisations, embassies and multinational corporations but also a fun student city filled with music, cafes, museums and the most popular beach in the Netherlands!

We co-organise our society through law and public institutions. As society evolves, these institutions continually face new dilemmas. Legislators must regulate AI while also fostering competitiveness. Judges are tasked with protecting a healthy environment while respecting democratic decisions. States…

Are you curious about how societies are governed – and what makes a society just? At Leiden University, you’ll explore democracy, law, safety and public policy in both national and international contexts. From human rights to climate legislation, from elections to ethical dilemmas: you’ll learn to analyse…

Are you curious about how societies are governed – and what makes a society just? At Leiden University, you’ll explore democracy, law, safety and public policy in both national and international contexts. From human rights to climate legislation, from elections to ethical dilemmas: you’ll learn to analyse…

The Hague is the international city of peace and justice, home to many international organisations, embassies and multinational corporations but also a fun student city filled with music, cafes, museums and the most popular beach in the Netherlands!

Resilient Diversity: the Governance of Racial and Religious Plurality in the Dutch Empire, 1600-1800

Human-driven environmental damage is increasingly recognised as a global crisis. Should large-scale destruction of ecosystems be considered a crime? The concept of ecocide has gained renewed attention, particularly following a proposed definition for inclusion in international criminal law, raising…

At Leiden University, your curiosity comes first. In your master’s, you deepen your knowledge and build on what you’ve already learned. From different perspectives, you work on societal challenges that matter now and in the future. You do this in Leiden and The Hague, cities full of knowledge, inspiration,…

Leiden is the place for Law

Are you ready to take on an extra challenge during your Leiden Master programme?

On 5 December 2019, Judge Christine van den Wyngaert gave a guest lecture at LUC : ‘International criminal justice; A view from the Bench’.

What can we learn from how maritime conflicts were managed in the past? What significance did Maritime Conflict Management have in shaping the standards of diplomacy and international law in pre-modern Atlantic Europe (1200-1600)?

This project applies a social-historical approach to examine and contrast various groups of African-American slave refugees who sought freedom within North America between 1800 and 1860. It innovatively distinguishes between different “spaces of freedom” for runaway slaves, namely sites of formal, semi-formal,…

Our lectures are open to anyone with an interest Find your inspiration for interdisciplinary research

On Human Rights Day 2024, the International Court of Justice is charged by the General Assembly with delivering an Advisory Opinion asking, in effect, what does the climate crisis imply for the rights of vulnerable states and people? Researcher Jens Iverson shares his thoughts on this event.

The stadtholder’s court in the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands has long been underestimated. Real courts and the associated court culture were to be found elsewhere in Europe. PhD candidate Quinten Somsen is trying to reverse this image. ‘The stadtholder’s court was actually very lively.’

The controversial Disciplinary Chamber of the Polish Supreme Court is one of many other judiciary reforms which the PiS, the Polish nationalist ruling party, carried out since 2015. The Disciplinary Chamber allows for judges to be fined, degraded and discharged. Von der Leyen expects the highest European…

The Grotius Centre Working Paper Series is an occasional series through which researchers in the Grotius Centre can publish the unedited versions of manuscripts that have been accepted for publication by journals and books.

On 12 September 2019, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), delivered a lecture on Customary International Criminal Law and Head of State Immunity to open the academic year for the Advanced LL.M. Programmes in Public International Law & International Dispute Settlement…

The Court of Justice of the European Union has rocked European relations within the world of sport. In its long-awaited ruling, the Court found that UEFA ‘abused its dominant position’ by imposing sanctions on the twelve clubs that founded the Super League – an elite football competition – back in 2…

On 8 July, the Young Researchers Group of the European Banking Institute organised the 11th edition of the EBI YRG Virtual Workshop Session. Barbora Budinská presented her research on judicial review of national law applied by the ECB in banking supervision

In early modern England, courts of law were working overtime. University lecturer Lotte Fikkers delved into the records of centuries-old court cases involving women. In Early Modern Women's Life-Writing and English Law, she reconstructs how the story they told in court differs from the one they wrote…

On Wednesday 22 June 2016 Wouter den Hollander will defend his PhD Thesis De relativiteit van wettelijke normen ('The Relativity of Statutory Provisions'). The public defence starts at 16.15 hours in the Academy Building.

Twaalf rechtenstudenten krijgen tot maart 2025 de kans om achter de schermen te kijken bij rechtbank Den Haag via het Honours College Law-vak ‘Masterclass rechtbank Den Haag’. Studenten Quinten Heerma en Eva Verdellen delen hun ervaringen met deze Masterclass.

Russia has been condemned by the International Court of Justice for violating the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, but only minimally. Larissa van den Herik, Professor…

In een spraakmakende rechtszaak over de Wet open overheid (Woo) besloot een rechter zelf documenten over de toeslagenaffaire te beoordelen. Wim Voermans en Annemarie Drahmann deelden hun opvattingen over de zaak met de Volkskrant.

Het Europees Hof voor de Rechten van de Mens oordeelt unaniem dat Rusland verantwoordelijk is voor het neerschieten van vlucht MH17. Nabestaanden spreken van erkenning en opluchting. Hoogleraar Internationale Geschillenbeslechting, Eric De Brabandere, duidt in een NOS-podcast het belang van deze uitspraak…

The European Court of Human Rights has published a Case-law Guide on Article 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Case-law Guides series presents the Court’s major judgments, organised by Convention article.

In 2023, a number of students from the bachelor’s, master’s and advanced master’s degree programmes won prizes for their outstanding achievements. Congratulations to the award winners and their supervisors who contributed to these successes.

Misha Plagis, assistant professor at the Grotius Centre of Public International Law wrote a paper together with Dr Nicole De Silva (Concordia University) entitled 'NGOs, international courts, and state backlash against human rights accountability: Evidence from NGO mobilization against Tanzania at the…

The tenth Europa Lecture was delivered by Corinna Wissels, State Councillor at the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Dutch Council of State, deputy justice of the Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal and member of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement arbitration panel.

Op vrijdag 28 maart vond de Thorbecke-lezing 2025 in Gent plaats, met als thema 'Thorbecke, Trump en de digitale toekomst van het goederenrecht'. Voorafgaand hielden studenten van de Universiteit Leiden en Gent een pleitwedstrijd over hetzelfde onderwerp.

In the aftermath of the child care benefits scandal in the Netherlands, politicians in The Hague turned to self-reflection and, as a result, the call for the introduction of a constitutional court is growing louder. Pieter Omtzigt, a popular conservative politician and leader of the new party New Social…

On 27 February 1976, two men wearing motorcycle helmets and carrying loaded guns ring the door of temping agency Cito. A security van has just delivered cash. The suspect later claims in court that he and his friend were just doing a ‘dress rehearsal’ – preparing ahead in other words, but not an actual…

How did changes in the composition and exploitation of princely domains in various principalities of the Low Countries influence the development of ‘modern’ public finance systems, including the notion of public debt?

Leiden Asia Departments

As a student of the Master's in Comparative Criminal Justice you develop academic, theoretical and research insight in all aspects of crime control. Student actively work on current, concrete problems and are challenged to independently find solutions. Students not only learn about the organization…

Issues such as climate change, the depletion of natural resources or social inequality are too complex to be addressed from a single scientific discipline or by a single country. Leiden University has the expertise to bring the resolution of these enormous problems a small step closer.

One of LUCIR’s key objectives is to bring together scholars and students of International Relations. To this end, LUCIR regularly organises events such as conferences, roundtables, lectures and book launches.

The specialisation Global Order in Historical Perspective of the master’s in International Relations at Leiden University focuses on examining the historical processes and practices in the making of global order.

As of 12 Januari 2026, the FSW faculty building is called Agora. This name was chosen by the FSW community. In ancient Greece, the agora was the heart of the city: a place for meeting, dialogue and the exchange of ideas. This is exactly how we see our faculty building: an open space where knowledge,…

Since its foundation in 1947, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has seen a huge rise in the number of cases brought to it. The tally currently stands at 22 cases. Last week alone, the ICJ issued three rulings in important cases. ‘It’s raining rulings, which is exceptional, ’ Eric De Brabandere,…

Showing your face at dinners and parties at court: it was the way to get noticed by the king in William I's time. Joost Welten's latest book reveals how, during the reign of William I, the elite danced around his throne both literally and figuratively.

In her capacity as a lawyer and expert in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, Professor Helen Duffy is filing a lawsuit against the Dutch State. Leiden University’s weekly newspaper Mare reports that through her role, Duffy is assisting a Palestinian Dutchman whose family was killed in…

Het Hof van Justitie van de EU (HvJ) doet uitspraak in twee zaken, waarin het Poolse Constitutionele Hof de Poolse grondwet boven EU-recht plaatste. Hoogleraren Europees recht, Armin Cuyvers en Stefaan Van den Bogaert duiden de uitspraak in de media.

Is EU law still supreme? Most national high courts have formulated some limits on the absolute supremacy claimed by EU law.

On 2 November 2023, Jorrit Rijpma spoke at a workshop organised by the State University of Milan on a preliminary reference from an Italian court.

Moot Court