The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations has awarded the Dutch Administrative Law Association (VAR) a start-up grant for one of the projects of the initiative 'Bestuursrecht beter' (better administrative law): a Digital Helpdesk for the Elderly. The grant will enable the VAR to take the first…

During her time as Speaker of the Dutch House of Representatives, Arib was, among other things, accused of creating an 'unsafe working environment'. To prevent disclosure of the case, she is taking legal action to demand access to all documents and their subsequent destruction. In addition, she is demanding…

Fundamental rights protect citizens from the government, but they are not absolute. A crisis situation not only gives the government the opportunity to restrict freedoms, it also shows citizens how far it is willing to go in doing so. ‘In the [Dutch] cabinets led by Rutte, there seems to be less and…

At present, the cabinet still maintains that all provinces are motivated to cooperate with the sensitive issue of the nitrogen strategy. However, there are major concerns that the political landscape will look very different once the elections for the Provincial Councils on 15 March have been held.

On Monday 8 April, a high-profile guest visited Leiden Law School. Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Geoffrey van Leeuwen gave a powerful speech to students about defending our interests in all current global developments.

Dutch provinces must finalise their plans this summer to meet the government's targets on nitrogen emissions. Can the outcome of the provincial elections this week still change nitrogen policy? The NOS spoke about this issue with various parties including Rogier Kegge, assistant professor in administrative…

On Thursday 10 January the annual Meijers prizes were awarded for the best published article, of each faculty research programme, written by Assistant Professors or other academic staff members. The winners received a certificate and a sum of money to spend on research.

Waarom laaien er rellen op in het Verenigd Koninkrijk, aangespoord door de extreemrechtse British Defence League? Jorieke Manenschijn sprak met EenVandaag over hoe de beloftes van Brexit aan de woede hebben bijgedragen.

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…

The first 'Tafel van Thorbecke' took place at Leiden University on Thursday 17 November 2022. For this new lecture series, initiated by Fatma Çapkurt and Gert Jan Geertjes, external scholars will be invited to speak about their research in the field of constitutional and administrative law.

Public authorities are increasingly being fined for failure to comply with decision periods specified in the Dutch Open Government Act (Woo). But to what extent is this remedy still effective? Geerten Boogaard, Professor of Local Government, discussed this on 'Mr.', a recognised platform for legal professionals…

Companies are increasingly being urged to not only generate financial returns, but also to consider the public interest. Tom Barkhuysen, Professor of Administrative Law and partner at law firm Stibbe, spoke about the role of the government at a conference on the lawyer as a trusted advisor in the boardroom.…

A clear, unambiguous definition of an extraparliamentary cabinet still seems to be missing in the political arena of The Hague. Caroline van der Plas, Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB) party leader, wants to discuss this issue with the party chairs of the Dutch coalition parties. Wim Voermans, Professor…

The fact that a significant number of seats in the Dutch provincial councils are now occupied by members of the Dutch Farmer-Citizen Movement (BoerBurgerBeweging, BBB) who have an agricultural background need not lead to conflicts of interest when voting on, for example, nitrogen emissions. This is…

On 4 April 2024, a meeting of the standing committee of the Dutch House of Representatives was held. At this meeting, Anna Marhold, Assistant Professor at the Grotius Centre and Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional Law, informed the committee about the economic and legal implications of a military…

Now that a negotiation agreement has been reached, the first right-wing Dutch cabinet is set to become a reality. What are the four parties planning to do, and who will become the next Dutch Prime Minister? All these issues and more were reviewed in a recent Op1 broadcast. Wim Voermans, Professor of…

Traditionally, at the beginning of each new calendar year, Leiden Law School awards the Meijers Prizes for the best article in the previous year for each Faculty research programme.

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…

In 1986 a group of international human rights experts convened in Maastricht to discuss the character and scope of state parties’ obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights. This resulted in the Limburg Principles on the Implementation of the International Covenant…

Dutch Mayor Eddy Bilder has once again come under scrutiny over his ancillary positions. He was previously the subject of negative media attention due to his role as landlord and now as a regulator of the foundation Stichting Het Oversticht. Geerten Boogaard, Professor of Local Government, discussed…

Het voorstel van D66 om een wetsartikel zo te veranderen dat een politieke partij kan worden verboden, is onverstandig, zegt rechtsfilosoof Bastiaan Rijpkema. Hij spreekt er uitgebreid over tijdens een interview met de Volkskrant. ‘Het is overduidelijk bedoeld om één specifieke partij aan te pakken:…

On April 25, at 1.00 pm, Prof. E. Allan Lind (Duke University) will hold a lunch lecture at Leiden Law School. He will speak about procedural justice. Scholars and students from Leiden University are invited to register for this lecture.

On Thursday 13 September 2018, the first ILS Lunch Seminar of this academic year took place. Geerten Waling and Michael Klos kicked off the ILS Lunch Seminars-series by presenting on their particular research topics.

In the article, Ruth Prins gives her opinion on the possible consequences chosen mayors might have for the police.

Workshop

Book Launch

On 31 January 2024, Alex Schilin defended his dissertation ‘United in Distinctiveness: The Institutionalisation of Differentiated Integration in Economic and Monetary Union during the Sovereign Debt Crisis.’ What motivated him to research this specific topic, and how did he tackle this project? And…

In the context of growing political polarisation, the spread of misinformation, and increases in incivility and intolerance, how can Twitter assess and improve the quality of its conversations? To address this question, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Leiden University, Syracuse University,…

Pandemics, terrorist attacks, environmental disasters... These are real threats, which we cannot ignore. In fact: we need to prepare better for the large-scale crises of the future. Preferably in a way that suits our lifestyle and respects our social values. Over the next ten years, an interdisciplinary…

Roundtable

On 16 May, three researchers from Leiden University will present their findings on the democratic consequences of decentralisation at a workshop in Leiden. Their research project, Downsize My Democracy?, shows that decentralisation does not automatically lead to a stronger democracy. On the contrary,…

Festival

The topic of conversation at The Great Continental Breakfast the morning after the EU elections in the Netherlands was the election campaign, the – lacking? – constitutional basis of the EU and the Timmermans effect. ‘These were the most normal EU elections ever!’

In a new Transforming Society article, Salvador Santino Regilme, Associate Professor and Chair of the International Relations Program at Leiden University, critiques the Trump administration’s US–China tariff war as a covert instrument of domestic class warfare.

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…

Workshop

‘Politicians act only in their own interests. The common man does not interest them at all.’ And, ‘The debate in parliament was a sorry sight and demonstrated incompetence.’ These are two pieces of criticism that you might read in tomorrow’s newspaper. But they were actually in the papers at the time…

Lecture, European Union Seminar

Lecture, Actualiteitencollege Den Haag

Monday 26 September, 2016 saw the first confrontation between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Expectations were high – not only about the content of the debate, but also about how the two presidential candidates would behave, and how this might influence their campaigns. We asked three researchers…

Will the association agreement between the EU and Ukraine lead to a new ‘Cold War’ between Russia and the West? That was one of the questions posed to the expert panel which discussed the referendum on the EU-Ukraine association agreement. While many people are still unsure what this referendum is really…

Study information

Study information

On 15 January 2019, the external relations committee of the Swiss National Council (lower chamber of the Federal Parliament) held a public hearing on the subject of the draft text for an agreement between Switzerland the European Union with new institutional rules for a number of Swiss-EU market acces…

Associate professor Rens Tacoma has won the 2021 Research Prize for Historical Sciences. The prize is awarded annually by the Italy Studies Working Group for the best scholarly publication in the field of Italy Studies in Dutch or Flemish academia.