I am an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Institute of Political Science of Leiden University. My research focusses on state foreign policy making with a particular focus on state collective narratives—the stories states tell about themselves, others, and (historical) events. This means I am interested in how states talk about themselves and others and, through a multitude of storied interventions, produce (narrate into being) the particular identities and relations that lay at the basis of their foreign policy making.
Besides my substantive work, I am also a bit of a methodologist in the making. I actively work on further developing qualitative research methods, in particular process tracing (PT) and comparative case studies. On the one hand, I am keen on thinking through what PT could mean for interpretive research. Can, and if so how can, PT further the study of the dialectic and (inter)subjective meaning-making processes and practices that underlie national and world politics.
van Meegdenburg, Hilde. 2026. Interpretive Process Tracing? How PT Can Become Amenable to Interpretive Research. Policy & Politics, 1–20. doi.org/10.1332/03055736Y2026D0000000
On the other hand, I am currently co-authoring a book with Patrick A. Mello, Uncovering Causal Symptoms, on combining PT with QCA. In this manuscript we follow what we call a moderate positivist approach.
In relation to my methodical work, I taught, and will continue to teach, many courses on process tracing methods throughout Europe. When I am able to combine it with my regular teaching obligations at Leiden University, I am generally happy to offer workshops or short courses on PT at other institutes.
Hilde van Meegdenburg 