It is often claimed that social media can contribute to democratic decision-making by bringing politicians and citizens into dialogue with one another. But is this potential always realised, and how? Most researchers look at politicians and their online communication strategies. In this New Media &…

It is difficult to hold international organisations (IOs) accountable for human rights violations. Gisela Hirschmann (Institute of Political Science, Leiden University) introduces the concept of pluralist accountability, whereby third parties set the standards for IOs’ actions in relation to human rights,…

The Europa Instituut is pleased to announce that on 21 November 2016 a new handbook “EU State Aids” (31 Chapters, 1500 pages) was published.

Summer schools and seed funding calls are just two of the many Una Europa opportunities for researchers and teachers at Leiden University and LUMC.

Develop your skills, create campaigns and activities, and turn ideas into reality. Through Una Europa, you can gain work experience together with an international community.

Leiden scholars study clay tablets from ancient Mesopotamia. But what exactly does the cuneiform script say?

Clustered Neighbourhood Settlements of the Central Anatolian Neolithic ca. 8500-5500 Cal. BC

A contextual approach to anthropomorphic figurines in the Pavlovian (Central Europe, 29-24 kyr BP) (2001)

Inaugural lecture

How can the support for a collaborative approach to global challenges be increased, in times when international organisations’ capacity to act is under threat? Gisela Hirschmann (Leiden University) and Cornelia Ulbert (University of Duisburg-Essen) suggest a number of options.

The smallness of Suriname, according to political scientist Wouter Veenendaal (Leiden University), strongly affects and shapes the nature of democracy in the country. On the one hand, clientelism ensures that members of each ethnic group included in power-sharing arrangements have access to state resources…

How to explain variation in the extent to which parliamentary voting behaviour follows the government–opposition divide? Party Politics article by Tom Louwerse et al.

The start of this year saw the opening of the LDE Centre for Governance, Migration and Diversity. The Centre looks at public administration and policy issues in the four South Holland cities from a multicultural perspective. What is unusual is that there are already master's graduates at the Centre.

Cynthia van Vonno, political scientist at Leiden University, explains why individual MPs vote according to the party group line.

It’s impossible to avoid, even in the Netherlands: the US will soon be going to the polls. Where does it come from, this fascination with US elections? PhD candidate Bram Eenink explains.

Join international boards and local taskforces, and share your ideas at major events. If you’re passionate about shaping the future of universities, there’s a place for you to get involved and make an impact.

Do you want to contact the Una Europa Team Leiden?

In recent years, freedom of movement within Europe has come under increasing pressure as a result of transboundary crisis situations. In his inaugural lecture on 22 October, Professor Jorrit Rijpma argues that what is needed is even closer cooperation to provide the best protection.

Dutch right-wing political party Forum for Democracy has repeatedly demonstrated that it has no lower limit when it comes to morals. Should the courts in the Netherlands protect democracy by banning parties like Forum? Several legal experts from Leiden University commented on this question in newspaper…

This open access book brings together an eclectic cast of scholars in related disciplines to examine ageing in the Soviet Union, covering the practice of geriatrics, the science of gerontology, and the experience of growing old. Chapters in the book focus on concepts and themes that analyse Soviet ageing…

How we think about and act on the usefulness of scientific research has epistemological and political implications: what knowledge consists of, how it comes about and to what ends. In this dissertation, I situate the usefulness of scientific research in concrete places for knowledge exchange. The exchange…

From corpus pragmatics and metapragmatics to accountability and intentions, and from conversational structure and im/politeness to the role of emotions in utterance interpretation, the short articles collected here represent not just the wide scope of Michael's own work but also a snapshot of the field,…

Shape the future of higher education with fellow students from across Europe.

Leiden University recently named a new building for Egyptologist Herta Mohr. But who was she?

On Monday 10 December, the Polish Commissioner for Human Rights dr. Adam Bodnar delivered the eighth Raymond and Beverly Sackler Distinguished Lecture on Human Rights at Leiden Law School. The event marked the annual celebration of International Human Rights Day, which was proclaimed to commemorate…

Impressions by Oene de Haan - PhD candidate at Utrecht University

More than 500,000 students and nearly 100,000 university employees across Europe are part of our Una Europa community.

From summer and winter schools to online workshops, explore, connect, and grow as a researcher.

The activities of the Europa Institute (also known as the Department of European Law) are supported by ‘Stichting Europees Instituut’. This foundation was the first of its kind in both the Netherlands and Europe as a whole. Established in 1957, its aim was to ‘support and advance the study of scientific…

To reach a larger audience beyond the academy, a number of activities in the cultural realm have been programmed over the years.

The revolutionary organizations in Paris and Berlin around 1848.

The opening and inauguration of the Visitors Centre, and the visitors trail on the site, are an important result of the Tell Balata Archaeological Park project that is jointly being implemented by the Palestinian Department of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage, the Faculty of Archaeology of the University…

The Europa Institute regularly organises academic conferences, workshops, and lectures to discuss topics relevant to European law and foster cooperation and exchange between scholars working in the field.

The Epic of Gilgamesh was a lifelong inspiration to artist Harry van Kruiningen. This tale from Mesopotamia about the adventures of Gilgamesh, the legendary king of Uruk, and his friend Enkidu is one of the oldest surviving epics in world literature. Despite its almost 4,000 year age, it still captures…

At a recent meeting, the leaders of the European Union formally approved Ukraine and Moldova’s candidate status to join the bloc. The message is: you are welcome to join our European family in due course.

Several buildings need to be demolished to make way for phase 2.

Within the FSW, we have put together a core team with contacts in the individual Institutes and at the Faculty level.

Within the FSW, we have put together a core team with contacts in the individual Institutes and at the Faculty level.