About

The central idea of the teaching curriculum and research programme is that politics cannot be studied purely at a national or international level any more. In stead, these levels are becoming more and more intertwined which is expressed by the term Multi-layered Governance. Politics and governance are subject to the effects of globalisation, or the spread of global market relations. This produces a growing osmosis between sub-national, national and international political processes. Contrary to what is often said this does not imply by definition that the national state disappears or loses its significance. Rather, what we see is that the boundaries between the national and the international, between the public and the private, between the state and the market, between the political and the economic, are subject to contestation and continuous redefinition. This process of transnationalisation presents the study of politics with completely new challenges. Political activity more and more takes place in a transnational context and is shaped by a growing interdependence. This transnationalisation of economic, social and political issues is also increasingly reflected in the emergence of new institutional forms of regulation and governance.