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Practical information

In the Netherlands and Belgium, constitutional and administrative law research is rapidly developing in new directions. Comparative law has become standard issue equipment, but interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to research are also rapidly gaining ground. The newest horizon is that of (Empirical Legal Studies). Interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and/or empirical research methods are not usually part of the standard equipment of legally trained researchers.

The work of Professor Mila Versteeg affiliated with the Virginia School of Law in the US, has for several years been among the most prominent and innovative research in the field of emperical constitutional law worldwide.  No one is better equipped than Professor Versteeg to educate the Dutch and Belgian public law research community on empirical methods. Versteeg will give four master classes.

Outline masterclasses
Public law is full of causal questions. Why do states become parties to international legal regimes? What causes states to adopt particular kinds of constitutional provisions? Do international human rights treaties make a difference? Does constitutional law change outcomes in a way that we can measure? While these questions are easy to identify, answering them is a much harder task. In four lectures, we will address how to identify and start answering causal questions.

The topics of the classes, held at the venue of Leiden Law School (Steenschuur 25, Leiden) are as follows:

  1. Monday 19 June: 13:30-15.00 hrs. – A1.44 (Lorentzzaal) Research Design and Large-N data.
  2. Tuesday 20 June: 13:30-15.00 hrs. – A1.44 (Lorentzzaal) Quantitative Methods and their Limitations
  3. Wednesday 21 June: 13:30-15.00 hrs. – A1.44 (Lorentzzaal) Case selection
  4. Thursday 22 June: 13:30-15.00 hrs. – A0.51 (Grotiuszaal) Experimental Methods

Professor Mila Versteeg will also give a public lecture on 23 June 13.30-14.30 – A0.51 (Grotiuszaal)