Wouter Veenendaal is Assistant Professor in Political Science. He completed his studies and PhD at Leiden University, and in 2014 his dissertation was awarded the Annual Thesis Prize of the Dutch Political Science Association. Between 2014 and 2016 he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), where he studied the six Dutch Caribbean islands as part of the NWO-sponsored project Confronting Caribbean Challenges. In 2016 he acquired a NWO Veni-grant for his research project When Things Get Personal: Explaining Political Stability in Small States (2017–2020).

Veenendaal’s research focuses on politics and democracy in small states. His Veni-project addresses the question why small states have more stable political systems than large ones, despite the weakness of political structures and strongly personalized politics. He partially conducts this project as a research fellow at the KITLV. Veenendaal has conducted research in various small (island) states, among which Liechtenstein and San Marino (Europe), St. Kitts and Nevis and the Dutch Caribbean islands (Caribbean), Seychelles (Africa), and Palau (Pacific). His research has been published in renowned international academic journals, and in 2017 his new book will be published with Oxford University Press (co-authored with Jack Corbett).

› Curriculum vitae Wouter Veenendaal

PhD supervision

Wouter Veenendaal is available to supervise PhD students and invites PhD research proposals in the areas of:

• democracy and democratization
• small states and territories
• clientelism and informal politics

See for more information on PhD positions:

› Institute of Political Science: PhD

Publications