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…

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…

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.

In order to solve problems such as the refugee crisis, countries must work together at international level. This requires big changes in the way in which states make and implement policy. Leiden researchers analyse these changes and advise policymakers on best practices.

Are you eager to learn how to shape governance solutions to complex environmental challenges? Are you passionate about fostering a more inclusive, just and sustainable world? Then this master’s is the right fit for you.

The extensive use of electronic communication channels and other devices has opened new possibilities for collecting data on human behavior. This information is sometimes openly accessible, but largely part of administrative registration systems that are not open to the broader public. The data provides…

Students and researches from all faculties at Leiden University attended a lunch seminar to discuss with four topic experts the rise of AI and the challenges this poses for various governance structures. The event was hosted by Leiden University’s interdisciplinary programmes GTGC and SAILS.

The public sector is increasingly a multi-level system, with interactions between public and private actors on the national, sub-national (provinces, regions) and international level and various public, semi-public and private organisations that perform public tasks. In this minor students pay attention…

Having encountered a series of shocks that pose an existential threat to our livelihoods, our societies have become increasingly polarized.

Governing Cyberspace: Behavior, Power and Diplomacy is based on a selection of papers presented during The Hague Program for Cyber Norms' inaugural conference Novel Horizons: Responsible Behaviour in Cyberspace from 5-7 November 2018 in The Hague. The volume is edited by Dennis Broeders and Bibi van…

Africa has a population of 1.5 billion people. By 2050, this number is projected to rise to 2.5 billion. The continent’s impact on the global economy, societies but also on the environment, will therefore increase drastically.

After decades in which autocracies were marginalised in most IOs, the rise of China, Russia’s increasingly autocratic turn, and the rising importance of powers such as hybrid regimes have produced a new reality in which various non-liberal states are increasingly present and assertive in IOs. The strategies,…

Perspectives on Public Management & Governance (PPMG) is dedicated to theory development and conceptual work challenging and advancing the field of public affairs.

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 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…

What is the nature and scope of violence? Who offends, and in what context? Who are the victims? And how can we design suitable intervention and prevention strategies? In this track, you will be familiarised with the many faces of violent offending, to provide the knowledge and tools to understand,…

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.

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.

Ruling Overseas: Connected Practices of Governance of Law

Esteban Szmulewicz, PhD candidate at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law of Leiden University and expert on decentralisation issues, gave an online presentation of his research before the subcommittee on Political System, Constitutional Reform and Form of State in Chile and reported…

Leiden Asia Centres

The Leiden University Centre for International Relations (LUCIR) is a multi-disciplinary platform promoting research and education on international relations at Leiden University.

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…

The main objectives of this project are to measure and explain government-opposition distinctiveness and to study its consequences for democratic legitimacy and vote choice.

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.

How adaptable can and should a government organisation be – in a crisis situation, for instance? How can such organisations join forces to solve the problems faced by citizens? Leiden University will collaborate with six government organisations that are opening their doors for research and the joint…

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.

Leiden University has a long and outstanding tradition in the field of public international law.

Political scientist Corinna Jentzsch (Leiden University) about the organisation of rebel and government auxiliaries in the civil war in Mozambique (1976–1992).

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 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.

With both national and international companies operating in the market, the expansion of global platform capitalism raises concerns and critique. To counter a perceived erosion of local authority, various countries, particularly in Europe, have introduced anti-trust legislation against such BigTech…

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.

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…

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

This interdisciplinary project explores the promise and perils of human rights as a suitable framework for addressing the challenges posed by the governance of digital platforms.

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

Governance of Sustainability

The Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs

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.

Mayke Kaag has been appointed Professor of the Anthropology of Politics and Governance in Africa at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (CADS) on behalf of the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL).

We are very happy to welcome you to spend a semester or year studying with us in the Faculty Governance and Global Affairs. Here you will find practical information on studying with Leiden University College, the Institute of Security Studies and Global Affairs, and the Institute of Public Administr…