The promise made in the run-up to the last Dutch elections that the ‘next cabinet formation process will be quicker and more transparent’ has already proven unrealistic. To what extent does a minority Dutch government stand a chance in the Netherlands’ fragmented political landscape? Corné Smit, external…

On Thursday evening, 7 December, the Centre for Professional Learning (CPL) gave the government's external communication pool a glimpse of what there is to learn about Public Affairs and the scientific research that is being done about it within the Faculty of Governance & Global Affairs.

The Dutch Open Government Act (Wet open overheid (Woo)) has been in effect for several months now. Yet various government authorities were in the news recently due to violations of the right to information. Newspaper Trouw investigated whether political unwillingness is on the rise.

Politicians in The Hague were in for an unpleasant surprise when the interview with CDA politician, and also current Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister, Wopke Hoekstra was published. Especially Hoekstra’s suggestion to let go of the Government’s target to reduce the amount of nitrogen by 2030 raised some…

The leading textbook on governance and politics in the Netherlands. The authors offer a clear and comprehensive account and have revised the text to provide full coverage of recent important developments.

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

On 15 September Armin Cuyvers lectured on the legal challenges surrounding Brexit for the The Academy for Legislation, the most important educational institute for legislative lawyers in the Netherlands.

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.

In this chapter, Kohei Suzuki aims to provide a brief overview of Japan’s local government system.

The past decade, against the backdrop of a fragmented political landscape, has witnessed the greatest changes to the Netherlands since the aftermath of the Second World War. The labour market, the housing market, the energy market, the bank system, the pension system, the healthcare system, to name…

How does governing work today, and how does society handle pressing challenges in ways that are democratic, effective, fair, peaceful, and sustainable?

The Digitalisation, Data and Governance specialisation of the Bachelor of Public Administration focuses on current digitalisation issues in public administration. How does the government handle citizens' data? Is the government doing enough to restrict the use of your data by tech companies? How do…

After more than ten years, the time has come. The new Dutch Open Government Act (Wet Openbaar Overheid, Woo) will take effect on 1 May 2022. The Woo replaces the Government Information (Public Access) Act (Wob). The aim of the Act is to get administrative bodies of the government in the Netherlands…

This article explores levels and patterns of legitimacy beliefs with respect to multistakeholder global governance at ICANN. From a large and systematic evidence base, Jongen & Scholte have found that ICANN has strong legitimacy underpinnings among its staff and board, as well as quite uniformly moderate-to-high…

How and why governments engage with civil society as well as how civil society organizes itself and exerts political influence constitute the key focus of the research programme Public Governance & Civil Society. As such, this research programme offers unique expertise within the field of public administration…

This pilot project will initiate research on how heritage has been and can be mobilized to address climate change governance in Himalayan Asia. Climate adaptation strategies frequently include the sourcing of heritage, encompassing landscapes, built environments 4 and cultural practices. However, effective…

In this article, James Shires and Tatiana Tropina, assistant professors at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, map the relationship between gender equality and cybersecurity governance as a component of good security sector governance (SSG). Here, it highlights the way in which cybersecurity…

Artificial intelligence could help make the work of public sector organisations, professionals, policy- and decision makers more effective, more efficient, and ideally could make it more rationalised and evidence-based.

Growing health inequalities, rising healthcare costs, an ageing population and a shortage of healthcare personnel are just a few of the many challenges healthcare faces, in the Netherlands and internationally. To tackle these challenges an interdisciplinary approach is required by combining knowledge…

How are law and governance in China responding to rapidly changing circumstances, and what does that mean for the relationship between the state and its citizens?

Ruling Overseas: Connected Practices of Governance of Law

Political Scientist Gisela Hirschmann (Leiden University) asks how international organisations can be compelled to comply with respect human rights. She finds that this is done through ‘pluralist accountability’: external third parties such as courts, NGOs, or regional organisations holding international…

In this journal article, Dr. Joris Larik and Dr. Richard Ponzio put forward a broad-based pandemic recovery agenda that goes hand in hand with institutional reforms at the global level.

Emerging from the first wave relatively unscarred to an increase in infections. This research analyses the response from the Bulgarian government to Covid-19.

Jan Aart Scholte, Professor Global Transformations and Governance Challenges, is a co-author of this book that offers the first full comparative study of citizen and elite legitimacy beliefs toward global governance.

Governance is a complex puzzle of organisations, people and divergent interests. Academic research in this field furthers our knowledge of the role of public administrators, of different organisational structures, of the people who work at such organisations and of how these organisations implement…

On the 18th of November the article: 'Minder overheid, maar wie denkt er na over de lange termijn? (translation from Dutch: 'Less government, but who is thinking long term?') written by prof. dr. Frits M. van der Meer was posted on Mejudice: 'an independent forum for discussions aiming to stimulate…

The use of increasingly large and diverse datasets to guide urban climate action has implications for how, and by whom, local governments are held accountable.

In the track Cybersecurity Governance, you will be familiarized with the breadth, depth and complexity of cybersecurity challenges. This track seeks to provide you state-of-the art with knowledge of governance and regulatory strategies available to address these challenges.

Knowledge that benefits society is the domain of the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA). FGGA provides high-quality interdisciplinary education on and research into social and governance issues such as terrorism, organisation of public administration, climate change and economic crises.

The research group Cyber Security Governance will provide cutting-edge academic research in the domain of cyber, where modern technology interacts with traditional concepts such as governance, sovereignty, law-enforcement, international relations and conflict.

In the Governance of Sustainability programme students will learn to become a future ‘change agents’ who can develop and inform governance solutions to complex environmental sustainability challenges.

The Leiden Institute of Advance Computer Science (LIACS) in collaboration with the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) have developed the minor Cyber Security Governance Essentials to provide students with a mixture of technical and governance knowledge to set them on a path towards understanding…

In the Governance of Sustainability programme you learn to become a future ‘change maker’ who is able to develop governance solutions to major and complex environmental sustainability challenges.

This article by Honorata Mazepus and Florian van Leeuwen in the journal Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration and Institutions looks at how evaluations of authorities were influenced by four aspects of a governmental response to a hypothetical disaster.

Having encountered a series of shocks that pose an existential threat to our livelihoods, our societies have become increasingly polarized. Shortly after two years of lockdowns due to the pandemic, the war in Ukraine boosted at a global scale a polycrisis that intersects energy shortages, refugees,…

The EUTAXGOV Chair will address the EU Standard of Tax Good Governance. This Standard has been introduced in 2008 by the ECOFIN Council with a view to tackle tax fraud and evasion by companies and individuals and as a pre-condition for third (non-EU) countries that receive EU development aid, and concluded…

This article investigates the sources of legitimacy in multistakeholderism as a major alternative approach to intergovernmental global governance.

The Economics and Governance specialisation of the Master in Public Administration teaches you to formulate problem-solving approaches to concrete policy issues found at the intersection between economics and public administration. This specialisation is a unique joint offering of the Department of…

Why, then, do governments choose to disclose intelligence and what factors shape how they do so?

There are three institutes at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs:

Governance of Sustainability

In the track Governance of Crisis, you will be familiarized with the main body of knowledge on strategic crisis management.