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

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 book examines the critical role of information and knowledge in early modern Europe's global pursuits, exploring challenges in trusting distant information, the development of doubt in intercultural encounters, and the impact of misinformation.

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…

How can innovation help or hinder public procurement processes?

This article studies the perceived legitimacy of EU enforcement actions.

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.

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…

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…

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.

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.…

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.

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,…

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

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.

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

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…

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

How do European Dutch think about Kingdom relations? There are all sorts of assumptions about this, but due to a lack of research, we do not really know. That is why, as part of his Chair in Kingdom Relations, Wouter Veenendaal commissioned a thorough opinion survey on Kingdom Relations among European…

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…

The Amsterdam media played a major role in the rise and fall of Dutch Brazil, the colony held briefly by the Dutch West India Company in the 17th century. This is the conclusion reached by Professor of Maritime History Michiel van Groesen in his book ‘Amsterdam’s Atlantic’.

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).

In this paper, the authors study how individual and country-level variables interact in affecting political gender attitudes in Europe.

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

As per 1st May 2019, Leiden University appointed Bram Klievink as professor of Public Administration with a focus on digitalization and public policy. The new chair has been established at the Institute of Public Administration of the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs of Leiden University. Bram…

Implementing all kinds of change and introducing new structures, far-reaching rules and administrative systems may sometimes seem to distract an organisation from its purpose. Furthermore, there is growing recognition of the need of staff of public organisations to find more meaning in their work: the…

Public Administration is a major refereed journal publishing articles on public administration, public policy and public management.

This book is a much-needed update on our understanding of public diplomacy. It intends to stimulate new thinking on what is one of the most remarkable recent developments in diplomatic practice that has challenged practitioners as much as scholars.

On January 1, the research group Physical Violence and Public Order was launched. Previously part of the group Terrorism and Political Violence, the new group focuses on violence ranging from mass shootings such as Columbine and Virginia Tech, to domestic violence, alcohol-related violence, violent…

PhD defence

Dr. Gruni published an article on the impact on sustainable development in the EU Common Commercial Policy of recent Opinion 2/15 CJEU on the Global Trade and Customs Journal.

LACDR has delegated two roles in the process of reviewing your dissertation in preparations of your public defense:

The first year students of Bachelor Security Studies finished their final block with the course Integrated Project 1. As part of the programme's teaching philosophy ‘Explore, Understand, Do’, students were required to combine the knowledge and understanding they’d gathered throughout their first year,…

The first year students of Bachelor Security Studies finished their final block with the course Integrated Project 1. As part of the programme's teaching philosophy ‘Explore, Understand, Do’, students were required to combine the knowledge and understanding they’d gathered throughout their first year,…

The Public Policy and Innovation department of the Institute of Public Administration focuses on shaping, implementing, and evaluating policy through innovative approaches. Our goal is to tackle complex societal challenges by exploring technological advancements and creative policy tools.

Double Bind. Public service professionals coping with contrasting demands. How do public service professionals align their PSM with contrasting demands set by the organizational and social contexts in which they work?

In their vision trajectory, the Office for the Senior Civil Service (in Dutch: Bureau Algemene Bestuursdienst) communicated its plan to renew its vision on public leadership. Over the course of 2021, the Leiden Leadership Centre contributed as a scientific partner to the substantiation of this visio…

In the research project ‘Furthering public leadership’ the Leiden Leadership Centre collaborates with several public organisations in order to obtain academic insights on public leadership and to develop leadership in practice. This allows for evidence-based development of public leadership and direct…

The Public Management and Organisation department of the Institute of Public Administration focuses on public organisations and the behaviour of the managers and professionals working within them. Our vision is that understanding human behaviour and organisational dynamics is essential for understanding…

This article provides an all-inclusive overview of public diplomacy literature that relates to a myriad of issues and has been studied from various points of view.

Previous studies have identified institutional, organizational, and individual factors that promote innovation in public organizations. Yet they have overlooked how the type of public administration—and the type of administrators—is associated with innovative attitudes.

Honorata Mazepus and Jaroslaw Kantorowicz are assistant professors at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs. Mazepus and Kantorowicz are one of the authors of this article in Nature on the role of national identity on public health support during global pandemics.