Centre for Public Values & Ethics

The moral quality of governance ranks high on the public agenda. Attention to this theme is caused by individual transgressions as well as structural wrongs. In academia too, many (including students of public administration, political scientists, philosophers, historians, lawyers) deal with normative questions concerning governance. The Centre for Public Values & Ethics (CPVE) wants to connect, strengthen, and push forward research in this area.

The CPVE is an academic knowledge– and research centre within the Institute of Public Administration of the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs of Leiden University. The purpose of the CPVE is to conduct and disseminate academic research of value-laden questions regarding public governance, in particular public ethics. Our research covers the public and semi-public sector (including politics). The CPVE aims at interdisciplinarity by unifying insights from various backgrounds, mainly public management, political science, history, political philosophy and ethics.

The CPVE is internationally oriented: research and the dissemination of knowledge are not limited to the Netherlands, but also aimed at other countries and systems. The CPVE wants to be part of international networks as well as the Dutch partner for foreign colleagues.

The CPVE was founded by two members of the Leiden Institute of Public Administration, dr. Toon Kerkhoff and dr. Patrick Overeem. With the departure of dr. Overeem to the VU University Amsterdam in 2017, the CPVE has been led by Toon Kerkhoff. While dr. Overeem is still involved in some of the ongoing research of the CPVE, the Center is currently headed by dr. Kerkhoff, dr. Andrei Poama and dr. Shivant Jhagroe, of the Leiden Institute of Public Administration.

The specializations of dr. Kerkhoff, dr. Poama and dr. Jhagroe reflect different orientations and interdisciplinary perspectives used at the CPVE. In addition, various members of the Institute are connected to the CPVE on a more ad-hoc research basis.

Activities

The CPVE’s primary activity is conducting research – fundamental and applied, independently and in cooperation with partners. Research findings are disseminated in three ways:

Advice: Applied (contract)research typically results in recommendations for contract partners, such as policy-makers and other knowledge institutions.

Education: Students and trainees both within and without Campus The Hague are being taught about completed research. They are also actively involved in ongoing research by means of capstone projects, internships, etcetera.

Public activities: Research findings will be translated into knowledge and initiatives for a wider audience, for instance through open lectures, symposia, op-eds, and interviews in public media.

Current Research Projects