Karin van Leeuwen (C.W.)

As a researcher, Karin is mostly interested in how modern European politics is shaped by law and legal practices.

Across the various topics she has worked on, publications include

On the interwar history of international law

• 2026 (with Haakon Ikonomou and Morten Rasmussen, eds.), The Cambridge Handbook on the League of Nations and International Law (Cambridge University Press)
• 2026 ‘Organising legal internationalism: the Institute of International Law, the International Law Association and the League of Nations, 1919-1939’, in Haakon Ikonomou, Karin van Leeuwen and Morten Rasmussen (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook on the League of Nations and International Law
• 2025 ‘‘‘Land of Grotius’, or Representing the Small Nations? The Role of the Netherlands in Establishing the 1922 World Court’, in Christian Tams and Henri de Waele (eds.), Realising The Hope of Ages? Novel Perspectives on the Permanent Court of International Justice (Nomos) 97-124.
• 2024 The Hague Academy as a Space of Encounter: How Scelle’s 1933 Teachings on National Courts Landed in the Netherlands, European Journal of International Law, 2024; https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chae049
• 2021 Leeuwen, K. van, and M. Rasmussen. ‘A Political and Legal History of the Advisory Committee of Jurists and the Foundation of the Permanent Court of International Justice.’ In S. Morris (ed.), Transforming the Politics of International Law: The Advisory Committee of Jurists and the Formation of the World Court in the League of Nations. Routledge.

On the history of EU law and European integration

• 2026 ‘Blazing a trail. The Netherlands and European law, 1950-1992’, in M. Rasmussen and B. Davies (eds.), History of European law in transnational and national perspective (Cambridge University Press – in print).
• 2025 (with Koen van Zon), ‘Preparing for disaster: the Seveso directive, infringements and societal mobilisation of European law, 1976-2000’ European Law Open 4 (3) 518-535 https://doi:10.1017/elo.2025.10025
• 2024 ‘Ordering through competition? Pieter VerLoren van Themaat and social democratic thinking about competition in the early postwar Netherlands (1940s-1960s).’ In Brian Shaev and Sigfrido Ramírez Pérez (eds.), Social Democracy and Cartels, Concentrations, and Competition in Europe (pp. 134-145) Taylor&Francis.
• 2019 ‘The legal service’, in: Vincent Dujardin et al (ed.), The European Commission 1986-2000. History and memories of an institution (Brussels: European Commission) 129-134.
• 2018 (with W. van Meurs, R.J. de Bruin, L. van de Grift, A.C. Hoetink and C.W.C. Reijnen) The unfinished history of European integration (Amsterdam University Press). 
• 2018 ‘Paving the road to ‘legal revolution’. The Dutch origins of the first preliminary references in European law (1957-1963)’ European Law Journal 24 (6) 408-421.
• 2017 ‘Inbraak in ‘sprookjesland’. Het Europees recht en de politieke strijd rondom de commercialisering van de Nederlandse televisie’, Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis, 65-82.
• 2012 ‘On democratic concerns and legal traditions. The Dutch 1953 and 1956 constitutional reforms ‘towards’ Europe’, Contemporary European History  21, 357-374.

On the history of Dutch constitutional law

• 2023 ‘Constitutional Reform in the Post-war Netherlands: Law in History’, in: Karin van Bijsterveld and Aagje Swinnen (eds.), Interdisciplinarity in the Scholarly Life Cycle: Learning by Example in Humanities and Social Science Research (Palgrave) 61-78. 
• 2022 ‘Rights for Others, Firing Back? Decolonization and Human Rights in Dutch Constitutional History, Verfassungsblog
• 2021 video series #kenjegrondwet, online interviews regarding the history and future of the Dutch constitution, https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/kenjegrondwet
• 2020 (with M. van Faassen and M. Scherer) Over de grondwet gesproken. 100 jaar constitutionele debatten. Een selectie uit de documenten van staatscommissies voor grondwetsherziening 1883-1983 (Hilversum: Verloren).
• 2020 ‘Die Niederlande’, in: A. Benz and H.J. Lauth (eds.), Handbuch der europäischen Verfassungsgeschichte im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert. Institutionen und Rechtspraxis im gesellschaftlichen Wandel. Bd. 5: Seit 1989 (Bonn: Dietz Verlag) 319-350.
• 2014 ‘Tussen afschaffing en versterking. Historische tradities en de toekomst van een tweehonderdjarige grondwet’, Tijdschrift voor constitutioneel recht 5, 96-116.
• 2013 Uit het spoor van Thorbecke. Grondwetsherziening en staatsvernieuwing in naoorlogs Nederland (Amsterdam: Boom).
• 2010 Digital research guide ‘Constitutional committees 1883-1983’, https://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/grondwetscommissies/onderzoeksgids

For a full overview of recent (2018-present) publications and research activities, see UM's research information system, earlier publications are collected here.