After working for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in various research assignments, he was director of the Van Vollenhoven Institute from 1983 until February 2018. In 1987 he defended a dissertation entitled Aan de voet van de piramide: overheidsinstellingen en plattelandsontwikkeling in Egypte, [At the foot of the pyramid, state institutions and rural development in Egypt.] Since then, he has published extensively on various topics of law and administration in developing countries, including Indonesia, China, Egypt and South Africa. In recent years he has published among others on issues of 'good governance', as well as on comparative sharia and national law in the Muslim world.  

Prof. Otto has acted as project leader in various research projects concerning Indonesian environmental law and land law, Indonesian courts, the Indonesian national human rights commission, law-making and legal transformation in China, implementation of law in China, law and traditional authority in South Africa, customary law and chiefs in Ghana, sharia and national law in twelve Muslim countries, access to justice and institutional development in Libya, assessing legislation for Libya's reconstruction, supporting primary justice in insecure contexts: South Sudan and Afghanistan.

'Science on Air' profile of Jan Michiel Otto

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