Are you thinking about studying Financieel Recht? Learn more and watch the videos. Please note that this programme is taught in Dutch

Deze onderzoeksgroep richt zich op het thema ondermijning en financieel-economische criminaliteit, in het bijzonder de aanpak ervan op een aantal deelterreinen.

The level of congruence between parties and their voters can vary greatly from one policy issue to another, which raises questions regarding the effectiveness of political representation. We seek to explain variation in party–voter congruence across issues and parties.

How did parties as political organizations emerge?

Many internal and external parties are involved in the expansion of the Gorlaeus Building.

This book analyses the emergence of modern parties in nineteenth-century Europe and explores their connection with the slowly developing institution of democracy.

This research cluster is a part of the Institute of Political Science’s research programme ‘Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviour’. Its members focus on the democratic role of citizens and the representative links between voters and politicians.

There are strict conditions relating to work for third parties.

Daniël van Loggerenberg, alumnus of the master’s programme Financieel Recht en Fiscaal Recht at Leiden Law School, has won the annual thesis award of the Vereniging voor Financieel Recht.

Leiden University publishes an overview of the ancillary positions of its professors.

Cijfers van Binnenlandse Zaken laten zien dat de wachtgeldregeling voor politici, in tien jaar tijd – door drie gevallen kabinetten - vijf keer groter is geworden. Barend Barentsen, deskundige in sociaal zekerheidsrecht, zegt in het FD dat dit ‘schuurt met de regeling om steeds meer versoberingen in…

The Centre for the Study of Political Parties and Representation (CSPPR) aims to serve as an interdisciplinary platform for scholars of Leiden University for research focusing on the historical and contemporary operation and functioning of political parties and political representation, with a particular…

Beyond the immediately visible plenum, parliaments are highly complex institutions. They work through various venues in which decisions are prepared or even taken. The two main institutions in this regard are parliamentary party groups, which comprise legislators who are elected under the same party…

This book concentrates on the regulation of political parties in the EU post-communist democracies, and on Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania, in particular.

In this paper, Kantorowicz argues that reverse party favoritism exists. He exploits the fact that during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic crisis, the Polish government was keen to launch postal voting in the presidential elections scheduled for May 2020.

How many written parliamentary questions does each party put to each minister? Political scientists Simon Otjes (University of Groningen) and Tom Louwerse (Leiden University) studied the practice in Dutch parliament and found that parties use parliamentary questions strategically as part of their ‘permanent…

This book uses a biographical approach to explore the Labour Party's relationship with European integration, moving beyond simple 'pro' or 'anti' labels to showcase the complexity of views that have existed.

Slavoj Žižek is one of the most prominent public intellectuals of the left. His central claim holds that “today, it is more crucial than ever to continue to question the very foundations of capitalism as a global system”.

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

On Wednesday 14 May 2025 Remzi Çakırlar successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

China is a one-party regime, yet elections are held for the local congresses. PhD candidate Wang Zhongyuan investigated how the Communist Party uses this democratic instrument to strengthen the authoritarian regime. PhD defence 31 January.

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

On 1 April 2020, Ivan Romashchenko defended his thesis 'Related Party Transactions and Corporate Groups: When Eastern Europe Meets the West'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. S.M. Bartman en Prof. A. Radwan (Kaunas, Lithuania).

How can we explain that Caribbean small states have the most stable two-party systems in the world, while Pacific small states have either very weak parties or no parties at all? Matthew Louis Bishop (University of Sheffield, UK), Jack Corbett (University of Southampton, UK) and Wouter Veenendaal (Leiden…

The project examines the political conflict in the Red River Valley of Louisiana between the majority-black Republican Party and the overwhelmingly white Democratic Party by studying the composition and actions of each party.

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…

What drives the restrictiveness of immigration reforms? Political scientists Katharina Natter (Leiden University), Mathias Czaika (Danube University Krems) and Hein de Haas (University of Amsterdam) analysed immigration reforms in 21 Western immigration countries between 1970 and 2012. They found that…

Looking back on 2024, Elon Musk and his impact on the global stage, political developments in the Netherlands and the war in Ukraine come to mind. These and other topics were discussed in ‘De Jortcast’, a podcast hosted by Jort Kelder on Dutch radio offering ‘radio therapy against hypes and hysteria’.…

The Dutch National Student Orchestra will be going on tour again in February. Before that, they will have ten days of rehearsals. The level is high and taking part means a total immersion in music.

The Department of Company Law and Financial Law teaches in areas including law of legal entities and corporations, the law of financial obligations and liability, corporate governance, sustainability, national and EU financial supervision, mergers and acquisitions, insolvency law, and international…

Anti-establishment parties with populist appeal have become part and parcel of the political landscape in many European countries. Some of these parties are more successful than others. PhD candidate Tomáš Cirhan studied the rapid rise of ANO, the party of Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš. He concludes…

Now the election results are in, how should we interpret them? Time to call Associate Professor in Political Science Tom Louwerse.

Political scientist Simon Otjes (Leiden University) receives a grant from The Dutch Research Council (NWO). The grant is part of the SGW Open Competition XS, which aims to stimulate innovative scientific research within the Social Sciences and Humanities domain. Otjes receives the grant for his research…

The elections for the Leiden University Student Council and Faculty Councils are coming up, starting on the 17th of May!

China is a one-party regime, yet elections are held for the local congresses. PhD candidate Wang Zhongyuan investigated how the Communist Party uses this democratic instrument to strengthen the authoritarian regime. PhD defence 31 January.

Political scientists Tom van der Meer, Lisa Janssen (University of Amsterdam) and Tom Louwerse (Leiden University) analyse polls presented by the main polling agencies in the Netherlands, as well as micro-level panel data. They reach three main conclusions. First, vote intention polls in the Netherlands…

A leaving do, birthday or other celebration? Many people like to ask for a donation to a good cause for their birthday or anniversary present. Leiden research can be one such cause.

Financial Law is a specialisation of the master’s programme Rechtsgeleerdheid (Law) at the renowned Leiden Law School of Leiden University.

Hiring commercial consultancy firms by (local or regional) authorities remains controversial and it is at the centre of attention. This was previously revealed in an investigation carried out by Dutch television programme ‘Nieuwsuur’. Dutch news platform Binnenlands Bestuur also sheds light on this…

On Monday 4 September, Professor Christopher Martinez, from the Universidad de Concepción (University of Concepción), Chile, was invited by the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law to introduce his forthcoming book at our university.

This year’s University elections will be held from 25 to 29 May. You get to choose who will represent you this coming year in the University Council as well as the faculty council of the Science Faculty. This week, the various student parties will introduce themselves. Today: Christelijke Studentenfractie…