Annelien de Dijn appointed professor Modern Political History

Prof. Annelien de Dijn

As of 1 January Annelien de Dijn has been appointed professor Modern Political History. The chair is embedded within the Department of History and Art History.

Research

Annelien de Dijn conducts research into the interaction between politics and ideas in modern times. Her research starts from the observation that contemporary political systems and practices have not come about by chance, nor can they be seen as the product of power politics or path dependency. Instead, today's political systems were largely shaped on the basis of specific normative ideas and values. In order to understand the political world in which we live today, we must also map the ideas and motives of the historical actors that formed the basis of modern politics.

Bio

De Dijn obtained her PhD in 2005 at the University of Leuven. She then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University, U.C. Berkeley and the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study. From 2011 to 2017 she worked at the University of Amsterdam as assistant professor. For her historical research she acquired various grants, including a Senior Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.