Welcome

Teaching and research

Since my master thesis, the central theme of my research and teaching has been the interaction between law, ethics and society. I studied law and ethics, with a strong interest in social sciences, and my research usually has an interdisciplinary character.

My current research focus is methods of interdisciplinary legal research and of philosophy. With Sanne Taekema, I am currently writing a book on the methods of law-in-context research. We advocate the integration of doctrinal research, empirical research and the humanities, especially legal philosophy and ethics. On these topics I frequently give seminars for master students and Ph.D. students, in Rotterdam and elsewhere.

A second focus is the dynamic relation between law and morality. In 2014, I published a book on this topic: The Dynamics of Law and Morality A Pluralist Account of Legal Interactionism (Ashgate/ Routledge 2014). Strongly inspired by the work of Philip Selznick and Lon Fuller, I developed an interactionist theory of law.

A special focus has been on how law and politics should deal with the dynamics of cultural and religious pluralism. I have widely published on this theme, also in popular publications in Dutch.

A new focus is the theme of global legal pluralism as a new lens through which I look at issues like civil disobedience and democracy. Civil disobedience and other civil actions are increasingly oriented towards businesses and markets rather than the state. Multinational companies or organizations like the IOC can be seen as constituting legal orders that also should be oriented towards values like justice, rule of law and democracy.

Publications

Most of my articles may be found as pdfs on this website (I am still working on that…) or on SSRN. My most recent publications are

• ‘Conceptual Theories of Law and the Challenges of Global Legal Pluralism: A Legal Interactionist Approach’ (in: Paul Schiff Berman (ed.) Oxford Handbook on Global Legal Pluralism, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2020, pp. 319-338.
• ‘Social Change and the Accommodation of Religious Minorities in the Netherlands: New Diversity and Its Implications for Constitutional Rights and Principles’, Journal of Law, Religion and State, 8(2020)1, 1-33.  DOI: 10.1163/22124810-201900 (with Wouter de Been)
• ‘Legal Philosophy as an Enrichment of Doctrinal Research Part I: Introducing Three Philosophical Methods’, Law and Method (2020), 1-20. doi: 10.5553/REM/.000046 (with Sanne Taekema) (Part II will soon be published as well)
• ‘Inzicht, integriteit en NWO’, in: Bald de Vries, Elaine Mak, Lukas van den Berge, Thomas Riesthuis, Jet Tigchelaar, Jeroen Kiewiet, Susanne Burri & Thijs de Sterke (red.), Rechtstheorie en praktijk – een liber amicorum. Beschouwingen rondom het werk van professor A.M. Hol. Den Haag: Boom juridisch (2020), 303-312 (met Sanne Taekema)
• ‘The Merits of Law. An Argumentative Framework for Evaluative Judgments and Normative Recommendations in Legal Research’, Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie 105(2019)1, 11-43.

Contact

Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam; e-mail: vanderburg (at) law.eur.nl

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