Leonard Besselink holds the chair of Constitutional Law in the Faculty Law since 2012, is affilliated to the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance, ACELG, and is presently Head of the department of Public Law. Prior to that he held the chair of European Constitutional Law at the University of Utrecht.

He was Henri G. Schermers Fellow of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies(2011-2012), the Royal Committee on the Constitution (2009-2010) and is a member of the Royal Netherlands Society of Sciences and Humanities.

He studied at various universities, among which the University of Leiden, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the European University Institute where he obtained a doctorate in social and political sciences.

His research focuses on issues of European, comparative and national constitutional law. In particular the constitutional nexus between EU and national constitutional law is one of his main research themes as well as issues of fundamental rights protection in Europe.

For a cv, key publications and full list of publications (with links to digital versions in the UvA repository) see the other tabs on this page.

Short CV

Leonard F.M. Besselink

e-mail: l.besselink   AT   uva.nl

work:    +31 20 525 3966/3451

Education

• Doctorate in Social and Political Science, European University Institute (Florence) (1988)
• Diplome in International Politics, Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (1980)
• Degree of doctorandus in law, University of Leiden, Faculty of Law (specialization in international law and international organization, 1979)
• Kandidaatsexamen Netherlands Law at Free University Amsterdam (1975)
• Post-graduatel courses at Post-graduate Course International Organization at Inter-University Centre for Post-Graduate Studies, Dubrovnik (Sept.-Oct. 1978), Summer course of the Académie de Droit International de la Haye (1977)

Professional Experience

Career

• Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Amsterdam (since 2012)
• Professor of European Constitutional Law, Law Faculty, University of Utrecht (2005-2012)
• Associate professor of Constitutional Law, Law Faculty, University of Utrecht (1995-2005)
• Lecturer Constitutional Law, Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam (1983-1995)

Visiting professorship/ fellowships

• Visiting Professor of European constitutional law at Libera Universitá Internazionale degli Studi Sociali LUISS, School of Government, Rome (since 2015) 
• Henri G. Schermers Fellow of the Netherlands Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities NIAS (2011-2012)
• Visiting Professor and Fellow of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies of the European University Institute, Florence, Italy (2003-2004)
• Visiting Professor Constitutional Law, Faculty of Law, Ethiopian Civil Servants' College, Addis Ababa (from 1998 to 2010)

Teaching experience

• Many bachelors’ and masters’ programme courses in constitutional law, comparative constitutional law, fundamental rights, EU fundamental rights protection, public law, EU institutional law.
• Graduate and PhD research seminars on ‘Dynamics of law in International and European Perspective’ (selected classes on (comparative) constitutional law in European and global context)
• Director of the selective Master’s Programme in Legal Research at the Law School, University of Utrecht (2004-2010) – [‘Best Master’s Programme by Research in the Netherlands’, Elsevier 2009; best master’s programme in law, Keuzegids Hoger Onderwijs 2009 and 2010]

PhD Supervision

• Several PhDs in the field of (comparative and national) constitutional law, public law and European law.
• Membership of approximately 40 PhD defence committees, mostly at Law Faculties in the Netherlands, but also at the Theology Faculty, University of Utrecht (on the abortive Lex Ecclessiae Fundamentalis), as well as in Ghent, Leuven, Luxembourg, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Rovaniemi (Finland)
• Several Master classes for PhD’s within the framework of the Inter-University Research School Ius Commune, at the Universities of Amsterdam and Utrecht and at the EUI, Law Department (May 2014)
• Dean for PhD affairs ad interim, Law Faculty, University of Utrecht 2004-2005

Research

Publications

• Over 200 publications, mainly in English and Dutch (see separate publication list); mainly in the field of (comparative) constitutional law, the nexus between European, international and national (constitutional) law.

Keynote Speeches, invited lectures (selection for the last few years)

2015

• Now what? Roundtable on Opinion 2/13, RENFORCE, SIM Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, Universiteit Utrecht, 7 January 2015
• The Early Warning Mechanism and the Scrutiny of the Principle of Subsidiarity by National Parliaments: the Netherlands, Swedish Riksdag Committee, Riksdag, Stockholm 21 January 2015
• Comparative Aspects of the Early Warning Mechanism and the Scrutiny of the Principle of Subsidiarity by National Parliaments, University of Upsalla, University of Stockholm, Stockholm 22 January 2015
• Resilience or Resignation? National Parliaments and the EU”, 10 April 2015 London School of Economics, London
• Course on European Governance in the Composite European Constitution. LUISS San Carlo, Rome 15 March- 1 April 2015
• “Review of the Review”, University of Liverpool, 26 March 2015
• Leiden Law Exchange (LLX), International Roundtable Discussion: Opinion 2/13 on EU Accession to the ECHR – Reflections on the Way Forward, presentation 'Consituent power and the ECJ', Leiden 29 June 2015
• Rule of Law Conference, Copenhagen 1-3 November 201

2014

• Internationalization and Europeanization: monism, dualism, pluralism? Keynote speech  and opening lecture: Symposium  Legal Pluralism as Legal Culture; University of Lapland, Lapin Ilyopisto 11 December 2014
• Constitutionalism between ECJ and national constitutional courts after Melloni, Keynote speech, ERC Conference Assessing the EU’s Responsiveness to Constitutional Rights, University of Kent, Canterbury 28-29 August
• National parliaments within the composite European constitutional order. Opening lecture of the Summer School on Parliamentary Democracy in Europe, The Europeanisation of national parliaments Rome, 14 – 25 July 2014, Monday 21 July, LUISS –Roma
• Europa, Soevereiniteit, Monarchie, Inleiding Spui 25 debat met Ulli Jessurun, Wim Voermans, 14 mei 2014.
• Comparing Italy and the Netherlands: some remarks on constitutional orders in Europe. Lecture 12 February 2014, Universiteit Utrecht

2013

• Interfaces between International and National Legal Orders: An International Rule of Law Perspective, Seminar 14 & 15 March 2013, Amsterdam
• ‘Does EU law recognize legal limits to integration?’ Symposium: “The EU between ‘an ever closer union’ and in-alienable policy domains of member states” at Saarbrücken, Germany, 21–23 March 2013
• ‘Democracy in the Composite European Constitutional Order: Some Reflections from the Perspective of Comparative  Constitutional Law’, Faculty Seminar, Annual Cycle of Visiting Scholar’s Lectures on Democracy in Europe, Law School, University of Helsinki 8 April 2013
• ‘Constitutional Identity: the Meaning of Art 4(2) EU and Its Varying Impact on Europe's Constitutional Traditions’. Constitutional Identity? Constitutional Law Seminar. 16-17 April 2013. Faculty of Law, University of Turku.
• ‘The Composite Constitutional Order of Europe: a new Paradigm?’, 22 May 2013. Scuola di Dottorato di ricerca in Diritto Pubblico (Coordinatore Prof. Paolo Ridola), Curricula In Diritto Amministrativo E In Diritto Costituzionale E Diritto Pubblico Generale, Programma Delle Lezioni Dell’a.a. 2012 – 2013, “L’organizzazione Dei Pubblici Poteri”. La Sapienza, Universitá di Roma, Istituto di Scienze Giuridiche.
• Presentation and discussant, Member States’ Constitutions and EU Integration Workshop June 13 & 14, 2013, Vienna, Austria.
• ‘The Odd One Out? Exceptions in Europe and the New Constitutional Review’. The Society of Legal Scholars Annual Seminar 2013, Changing Landscape – Comparative Reflections on Rights-Based Constitutional Review, Tuesday 2 - Wednesday 3 July 2013, Newman House, Dublin.
• ‘Why the fuss: the national identity wave in European constitutional law’ - Guest lecture, Faculty Seminar, Department for Public and International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo, 7 October 2013

Networks

• Participation with ‘work package’ in  Integrated Programme, Securitization in Europe, CHALLENGE, Sixth EU Framework Programme, Workpackage 13: legal competence with regard to external borders and general programme activities
• Member of Network of Excellence CONNEX, Accountability in Europe, Sixth EU Framework Programme

Contract Research

• Some eighteen contracts for academic research projects mainly funded by public institutions (value per contract ranging from €2000 to € 950 000).

Prestigious prizes, distinctions etc.

• Member of the Koninklijke Hollandse Maatschappij van Wetenschappen (Royal Netherlands Society of Sciences and Humanities), Humanities Section.
• Member of the Royal Committee on the Constitution, Staatscommissie Grondwet (2009-2010)

Administration

• Head of Public Law Department (comprising constitutional, administrative, criminal and tax law sections), Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam (since January 2014)
• Chair Research Assessment Committee for the Faculty of Law of the University of Maastricht (2016)
• Chair of Research Assessment Committee Faculties of Law and Canon Law, Catholic University of Leuven (2012)
• Member of the Mid-Term Review Research Assessment Committee, University of Maastricht (2014)
• Member External Advisory Board CESC (Centre for European Constitutionalization and Security), Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen (2013)
• Member of Faculty and Departmental Boards, countless faculty committees, including search committees, selection committees and advisory committees for full professors and associate professors.

Key publications [thematically]

Leonard F.M. Besselink

On ‘constitutional relations’

A Composite European Constitution/ Een samengestelde Europese constitutie. [Inaugural Address Jean Monnet Chair European Constitutional Law, University of Utrecht, 10 January 2007.] Groningen, Europa Law Publishing, 2007, 22 + 22 pp., see

https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/16598551/oratie_UU_Scan_Besselink_Leonard_15_18_05_09_2017.pdf

The Notion and Nature of the European Constitution after the Lisbon Treaty. In: European Constitutionalism beyond Lisbon, Jan Wouters (ed.), Luc Verhey (ed.), Philipp Kiiver (ed.), Uitgeverij Intersentia, 2009, pp. 261-281.

[With Monica Claes, Šejla Imamović, Jan Herman Reestman] National Constitutional Avenues for Further EU Integration, Study, European Parliament, Directorate General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C: Citizens' Rights And Constitutional Affairs, Legal Affairs Committee, Constitutional Affairs Committee, PE 493.046 EN, Brussels March 2014, 277 pp. [common responsibility for main, synthetic part of the report; responsibility for the chapters on Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, Malta, Bulgaria]

Does EU Law Recognize Legal Limits to Integration? Accommodating diversity and its limits. In: The EU Between 'an Ever Closer Union' and Inalienable Policy Domains of Member States,  Herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. Thomas Giegerich, LL.M. (Virginia), Oskar Josef Gstrein, LL.M., Sebastian Zeitzmann, LL.M. 2014, 557 S., Broschiert, ISBN 978-3-8487-0995-3 pp. 59-78.

Parameters of Constitutional Development: The Fiscal Compact In Between EU and Member State Constitutions. In: The EU after Lisbon: Amending or Coping with the Existing Treaties? Rossi, Lucia Serena, Casolari, Federico (Eds.) Springer Verlag 2014, X, 334 p. 2 illus., 1 illus. in color, ISBN 978-3-319-04590-0 , pp. 21-35

On ‘constitutional identity’

National and constitutional identity before and after Lisbon, In: 3 Utrecht Law Review (2010), November 2010, pp. 36-49. at http://www.utrechtlawreview.org/

Respecting Constitutional Identity in the EU.  A Case Note to ECJ (Second Chamber), Case C 208/09, 22 December 2010, Ilonka Sayn-Wittgenstein v Landeshauptmann von Wien. In: 49 CMLRev (2012) nr 2 pp. 671–693

On fundamental rights

The Protection of Fundamental Rights Post-Lisbon: The Interaction between the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the European Convention on Human Rights and National Constitutions. Questionnaire and General Report. In: Reports of the XXV FIDE Congress Tallinn 2012, Volume 1: The Protection of Fundamental Rights Post-Lisbon, Tallinn 2012, Tartu University Press. Pp. 1-139.

Parameters of Constitutional Conflict after Melloni. In: European Law Review 2014,39( 4), 531-552.

Should the European Union Ratify the European Convention for Human Rights: Some Remarks on the Relations between the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice. In: Constituting Europe: the European Court of Human Rights in a national, European and global context. Andreas Føllesdal/ Geir Ulfstein/ Birgit Peters (eds.) Cambridge Studies on Human Rights Conventions, Cambridge University Press, ISBN-13: 978110702444,  2013 , pp. 301-333

The European Union and The European Convention On Human Rights: From Sovereign Immunity in Bosphorus to Full Scrutiny under the Reform Treaty? In: Changing Perceptions of Sovereignty and Human Rights: Essays in Honour of Cees Flinterman, Intersentia Antwerpen 2008, pp. 295-309

Multiple Political Identities: Revisiting the ‘Maximum Standard’. In: Citizenship and Solidarity in the European Union – from the Charter of Fundamental Rights to the Crisis, the state of the art. Alessandra Silveira (ed.), [Euroclio Series] Peter Lang, (Bern/Bruxelles) 2013.

Entrapped by the Maximum Standard. On Fundamental Rights, Pluralism, Subsidiarity in the European Union. In: Common Market Law Review, vol 35 (1998), no. 3, pp 629-680

Grenzen aan grenzenloosheid - algemene leerstukken van grondrechtenbescherming en de EU, L.F.M. Besselink en H.R.B.M. Kummeling (red.), WEJ Tjeenk Willink Deventer 1998, XIII + 287 pp.

On EU and national parliaments

National Parliaments in the EU’s Composite Constitution: a Plea for a Shift in Paradigm. In: Ph. Kiiver (ed.), National and Regional Parliaments in the European Constitutional Order, Groningen: Europa Law Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 9076871639, pp. 117-131

On constitutional adjudication

The Proliferation of Constitutional Law and Constitutional Adjudication, or How American Judicial Review Came to Europe After All. Utrecht Law Review. Volume 9, Issue 2, March 2013, pp. 19-35. http://www.utrechtlawreview.org/index.php/ulr/article/viewFile/223/220

Ius Publicum Europaeum: Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit in den Niederlanden. In: Handbuch IUS PUBLICUM EUROPAEUM, Band VI: Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit, Prof. Dr. Armin von Bogdandy, Prof. Dr. Peter M. Huber (hersg.), C. F. Mueller Verlag, Heidelberg forthcoming, [approx 60 pp]

Country studies in National constitutional law

Constitutional Law of the EU Member States, Leonard Besselink, Paul Bovend’eert, Hansko Broeksteeg, Roel de Lange, Wim Voermans (eds),  Kluwer Deventer, 2014, VI + 1765 pp. ISBN 978-90-13-09176-2 [and (co-)author of the chapters on The Italian Republic and on The Kingdom of the Netherlands]

Ius Publicum Europaeum: § 6 Grundstrukturen staatlichen Verfassungsrechts. In: Handbuch IUS PUBLICUM EUROPAEUM, Band I: Nationales Verfassungsrecht, Prof. Dr. Armin von Bogdandy, Prof. Dr. Pedro Cruz Villalón, Prof. Dr. Peter M. Huber (hersg.), C. F. Mueller Verlag, Heidelberg 2007, pp. 327-388

The Constitutional Duty to Promote the Development of the International Legal Order: the Significance and Meaning of Article 90 of the Netherlands Constitution. In: Netherlands Yearbook of International Law, Volume XXXIV, 2003, pp. 89-138

De Nederlandse Grondwet en de Europese Unie. [The Netherlands Constitution and the European Union, with H.R.B.M. Kummeling (Introduction and Chapter 1), R. de Lange (chapter 5 on decentralization), P. Mendelts (draft chapter 3 on parliament) and S. Prechal (Introduction and concluding chapter)] Europa Law Publishing, Groningen 2002. xii + 279 pp. NUR 823; ISBN 90-76871-10-8