Jan Michiel Otto
Director Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Development | Professor Leiden UniversityMember of Hague Rule of Law Network
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Initial field experience in rural India and Egypt. PhD on development administration in Egypt. Co-founder of major Legal Dutch-Indonesian Legal Cooperation Programs. Later field experiences in Indonesia, Ghana, South Africa, China. Extensive research, publications, research supervision and teaching in the area of law, governance and development. Foci on land and natural resources management, lately on compatibility between sharia and the rule of law in the Muslim world.
Personal motto: 'No useful assistance without thorough understanding of the ‘demand side’. '
Rule of Law expertise
- Legal systems and development problems
- Good governance and access to justice
- Local administration, access and participation
Country / region expertise
- Indonesia
- Muslim world at large, notably Egypt
Top achievements
Editor of Sharia Incorporated - A Comparative Overview Of The Legal Systems Of Twelve Muslim Countries In Past And Present (Leiden University Press, 2010)
Author of Rule of Law Promotion, Land Tenure and Poverty Alleviation: Questioning the Assumptions of Hernando de Soto (Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 1 (1), pp. 173-194 (2009)
Led several research projects in Indonesia, e.g. concerning Indonesian environmental law and land law, Indonesian courts, and the Indonesian national human rights commission
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