Tom Theuns is Senior Assistant Professor of Political Theory and European Politics and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the Institute of Political Science.

More information about Tom Theuns

Tom Theuns is Senior Assistant Professor of Political Theory and European Politics at the Institute of Political Science in Leiden and Associate Researcher at the Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics at Sciences Po Paris. Previously, he held a research position at Utrecht University and a teaching position at the University of Amsterdam. From 2021-2025 he worked on a Veni grant from the NWO for his project Protecting Democracy in the EU. From 2025-2026 he is pursuing an NWO ‘XS’ grant on The Political Theory of Liberal Atlanticism.

Tom Theuns defended his habilitation á diriger des recherches at Sciences Po Paris in 2024. His habilitation thesis, ‘Protecting Democracy in Europe: Pluralism, Autocracy and the Future of the EU’, was published by Hurst and Oxford University Press. He has been invited to present this research widely, including at the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Adviesraad Internationale Vraagstukken and at universities including the Hertie School in Berlin, the Université Libre de Bruxelles, the University of Manchester and the University of Oslo.

From 2011 to 2017, Tom Theuns pursued graduate work at the University of Oxford and Sciences Po Paris. He first read for an MPhil in Political Theory at Balliol College in Oxford, and then pursued doctoral research at Sciences Po Paris, defending a PhD in Political Science in 2017. His doctoral dissertation, ‘The Legitimacy of EU Democracy Promotion in the Neighbourhood’, developed a normative theory of democracy promotion and examined the legitimacy and desirability of EU democracy promotion using the tools of political theory.

Current research projects investigate methodological questions about the integration of empirical and normative reflection in democratic theory, the ideology of cold war liberalism, and the legitimate scope of resistance to autocratic politics in Europe.

Besides his monograph with Hurst and Oxford University Press, Tom Theuns has published several book chapters and reviews as well as peer-reviewed journal articles in journals such as the American Political Science Review, the Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Global Constitutionalism, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, the Journal of European Integration, and Res Publica. As post-doctoral researcher in the ‘ETHOS’ Horizon2020 project, he also published eight peer-reviewed reports for the European Commission (Research Executive Agency). Besides publishing academic work, Tom Theuns is also a regular commentator on European political affairs for venues including El País, EUobserver, Euractiv, Euronews, and Le Monde Diplomatique.

Bluesky: @tomtheuns.bsky.social.

PhD supervision

Tom Theuns is available to supervise PhD students and invites PhD candidates to send research proposals in the areas of:

• European politics and governance
• Legal and political theory
• Democratic theory

See more information on PhD positions:

› Institute of Political Science: PhD

Publications