Bio Nik de Boer

Nik de Boer is Associate Professor in Constitutional Law at the Amsterdam Law School and member of the editorial board of the European Constitutional Law Review. His current research examines democratic backsliding and democratic concerns about the financial system's legal architecture, with a particular focus on central banks. This builds on his earlier research, which primarily concerned the role of constitutional courts in the EU. His monograph, Judging European Democracy, published by Oxford University Press, systematically analyzes the democratic legitimacy of national constitutional courts' reviews of European law. It aims to provide a novel perspective on these courts' role in relation to the EU. Nik contends that, contrary to the view that the case law of national constitutional courts on the EU fosters dialogue or contestation, their review may actually limit democratic debate on the EU's constitutional foundations.

Nik de Boer leads the multidisciplinary project  Safeguarding the normative foundations of democracy and is founding board member of the UvA platform for Democratic Resilience (DEMRES).

Nik de Boer obtained his PhD (cum laude) from the University of Amsterdam in 2018. His doctoral thesis 'Judging European Democracy' was awarded the Dissertation Prize of the Dutch Association of Constitutional Law. Nik has held visiting positions at the European Court of Justice, Harvard Law School and the Center for Global Constitutionalism WZB, Berlin Social Science Centre. Previously he was a postdoctoral reseacher at the Amsterdam Centre for Contemporary European Studies (ACCESS EUROPE) and Assistant Professor at the Department of Private Law of the Amsterdam Law School, where he not only taught financial law but also coordinated the Master in Law and Finance program and the faculty's PhD program. Nik is committed to developing future legal scholars and practitioners and currently teaches a variety of public law courses at the Master's and Bachelor's levels.

Research Interests

• Democratic Backsliding
• Constitutional Law
• EU Constitutional Law
• Economic and Monetary Union
• Political and Constitutional Theory
• Central Banks

Teaching (present)

• Democratie en rechtsstaat (LLM)
• Staats- en bestuursrecht in de praktijk
• Rechtsstaat en democratie (LLB)
• Comparative Constitutional Law (PPLE and AUC)
• EU Constitutional Law and Fundamental Rights (LL.M)