It is a tragic fact that mass atrocities have been, and are being, committed across the world. The international community, while condemning these acts, often stands idly by. This conundrum raises a host of empirical, legal, and normative questions regarding the role of public opinion in responding…

This research cluster is a part of the Institute of Political Science’s research programme ‘Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviour’.

Jelke Bethlehem (Leiden University, Institute of Political Science) gives an overview of many aspects of polls: questionnaire design, sample selection, estimation, margins of error, nonresponse and weighting. As such, it is useful both for readers who want to gain a better understanding of the ins and…

Prior to publication, the corresponding author has to agree with a small publication fee of 95 Swiss Francs (CHF). After a successful review procedure, but prior to publication of the article, the corresponding author will have to pay the publication fee.

How can innovation help or hinder public procurement processes?

What does it mean to do public policy ethics today? How should philosophers engage with ethical issues in policy-making when policy decisions are circumscribed by political and pragmatic concerns? How do ethical issues in public policy differ between areas such as foreign policy, criminal justice, or…

Many of the big challenges of the 21st century (climate change, international migration, financial instability, socio-economic inequality) find their origins in the organisation of the global economy. Any solution to the world’s big challenges therefore requires forceful policy interventions at the…

This article studies the perceived legitimacy of EU enforcement actions.

The idea of citizens and public professionals collaborating to provide public services has widely spread in several countries around the globe. Co-production is often presented as the go-to solution for challenges like a legitimacy crisis of both the government and the market, and financial concerns.…

Seminar

Article in the journal Irish Political Studies discussing the challenge of aggregating opinion polls and presenting a method to better model major sudden political and societal events. This can can enhance opinion poll reporting in the media.

On 24 April 2025, political scientist Pawan Kumar Sen will defend his PhD dissertation,

Kohei Suzuki, assistant professor at Leiden University, together with Victor Lapuente, examined how male and female public managers show attitudinal differences toward innovation in the public sector.

This thesis investigates opinion dynamics on random graphs through the lens of the voter model, a classical interacting particle system used to describe how consensus emerges in networks.

This PhD dissertation examines international responsibility for the crime of aggression from a public international law perspective. Under customary international law, as well as the amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court adopted in the Review Conference in Kampala in 2010,…

Promotores: Prof.dr. G. Miley & Prof.dr. J.M. van den Broek

This dissertation explores how Large Language Models (LLMs) can effectively and responsibly contribute to complex decision-making processes. By combining AI and human intelligence, Hybrid Intelligence (HI) emerges, allowing the strengths of both humans and machines to be utilized.

During times of domestic turmoil, the use of force abroad becomes an appealing strategy to US presidents in hopes of diverting attention away from internal conditions and toward a foreign policy success.

How interest groups, differences in policy issues and institutional differences between countries affect whether public opinion is translated into policy?

In this article, Thomas Maguire, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, examines why states use intelligence to influence external audiences.

A History of Dutch Corruption and Morality showcases 300 years of change, continuity, and diversity in the history of Dutch political corruption and public morality. It analyses a series of corruption scandals and shows how the following debates were connected to the big changes of that time: from the…

In educational settings such as museums, universities and schools, white, male, able-bodied and rational subjects still dominate. Although there has been a lot of theoretical work on processes of in- and exclusion through racialization, sexualization, and disabilization, we still know very little about…

On 8 July 2020, Andres Sarmiento Lamus defended his thesis 'The Proliferation of Dissenting Opinions in International Law'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. L.J. van den Herik and Prof. Y.A.A.S. Radi (UCLouvain).

How does open government affect the level of public trust?