
Welcome to my website! My name is Tom Buitelaar and I am currently an Assistant Professor in the War, Peace & Justice program of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University. I study the role of international conflict interventions in world politics, with specific attention to how interveners balance peace and justice. Furthermore, I am interested in how international norms guide these interventions, and the role of individual agency in enhancing their effectiveness. I combine this interest with deep-grained analysis of the inner workings of international organizations. I hold a PhD from the European University Institute for which I investigated the conditions under which UN peace operations assist the International Criminal Court. Before my PhD, I was a Researcher in Conflict Prevention at The Hague Institute for Global Justice.
I am also the co-chair of the Dutch Peacekeeping Network which convenes NGOs, academia, and the Dutch Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, to consider and improve the Dutch role in UN peacekeeping operations.
My research has been published in the European Journal of International Relations, Human Rights Review, and St. Antony’s Review of International Affairs, amongst others. I have also co-authored several chapters in edited volumes published by Oxford University Press.