Welcome
My name is Henriette Müller and I am an Assistant Professor of Gender, Governance and Society at New York University Abu Dhabi.
Focusing on the politics of gender and women’s leadership, my research explores the nexus between gender and political leadership in complex governance systems, both at the national and international levels. My regional foci include the European Union, the GCC states, and international organizations.
At NYU Abu Dhabi, I teach courses and conduct research on women and leadership, gender and governance, and statehood from a global perspective.
The European Commission under President Ursula von der Leyen: Gender, Leadership, Policies and Crises
In Progress/Edited Volume
Co-editors: Gabriele Abels, Johanna Kantola, Emanuela Lombardo and Henriette Müller
This volume will provide the first comprehensive evaluation of the European Commission under Ursula von der Leyen (2019-2024) from the perspective of gender. It will study the Commission’s quest for gender+ equality in terms of policies and politics, its exercise of leadership and response to the multiplicity of crises, as well as its impact on the symbolic, descriptive, and substantive representation of women in the European Commission and the Union, more broadly.
Credit: European Commission
Women and Leadership in Global Perspective
In Progress/Book Project
Focusing on women and leadership from an international perspective and in the context of global gender studies, this volume explores how women act and interact as leaders in different political and cultural contexts as well as in international arenas, such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, and the International Criminal Court.
In particular, it compares structural challenges of women’s continued underrepresentation in international organizations and global governance as well as women’s conceptualizations of leadership alongside their pathways to power.
Design: Henny Müller
Out now: Women Opposition Leaders: Pathways, Patterns, and Performance
Special Issue, Politics & Governance, 2023, 11(1)
Co-editors: Sarah C. Dingler, Ludger Helms and Henriette Müller
This thematic issue provides the first comprehensive overview of women opposition leaders and their performance. Setting the stage for a new research agenda, this special issue integrates theoretical and empirical insights at the intersection of three distinct research areas: political opposition, political leadership, and gender and politics.
Applying a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, this collection of articles captures the diversity of women opposition leaders, their career trajectories, and their exercise of leadership across different political regimes and world regions.
Credit: Politics and Governance
Women & Leadership in the European Union
Oxford University Press, 2022
Co-editors: Henriette Müller and Ingeborg Tömmel
This volume is the first comprehensive analysis of women's ascendance to leadership positions in the European Union as well as their performance in such positions. It provides a new theoretical and analytical framework capturing both positional and behavioral leadership and the specific hurdles that women encounter on their path to and when exercising leadership.
The volume encompasses a detailed set of single and comparative case studies, analyzing women's representation and performance in the core EU institutions and their individual pathways to and exercise of power in top-level functions, as well as comparative analyses regarding the position and behaviour of women in relation to men.
Credit: OUP
Gender & Leadership Roundtable (since 2019)
Co-Conveners: Aurelie Dariel and Henriette Müller
New York University Abu Dhabi
The Gender & Leadership Roundtable provides a platform to discuss the continued gender and diversity gaps across the various domains of society, including politics, economics, academia, law, the arts, and civil society, with a particular focus on leadership.
By bringing together scholars, practitioners, and artists from within and beyond the NYUAD community, the roundtable seeks to explore current challenges and identify policy solutions that stimulate gender equity, as well as diversity and inclusion, more broadly, in leadership roles across diverse regions and cultural contexts.
Credit: OUP
Political Leadership and the European Commission Presidency
Oxford University Press, 2020
The EU’s pluralistic, nonhierarchical system of multilevel governance lacks clear structures of both government and opposition. According to the EU treaties, the presidency of the European Commission is thus not explicitly expected to exercise political leadership. However, the position cannot effectively be exercised without any demonstration of such leadership due to its many leadership functions.
Examining this curious mix of strong political demands, weak institutional powers, and need for political leadership, this book systematically analyzes the political leadership performance of the presidents of the European Commission throughout the process of European integration.
Credit: OUP
The Role of Leadership in EU Politics and Policy Making
Special Issue: West European Politics, 2020, 43(5)
Co-editors: Henriette Müller and Femke van Esch
European leaders have struggled to find common responses to the polycrisis the EU is facing. This crisis of leadership makes it urgent that scholars provide a better understanding of the role and impact of leadership in EU politics and policy making.
This collection of contributions addresses this need by strengthening old and building new bridges between the academic domains of European studies and leadership studies.
It opens with a discussion of the contested concept of leadership in the context of the European polity and its politics, challenging the conventional view that leadership is necessarily a matter of hierarchy. Moreover, it argues that rather than leaderless, the EU is an intensely ‘leaderful’ polity.
Credit: WEP
— IN THE NEWS — IN THE NEWS — IN THE NEWS —
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Interview for WDR Ursula von der Leyen - Wie weiblich ist Europa?
Ursula von der Leyen – wie weiblich ist Europa?
Ursula von der Leyen ist es gewohnt, sich gegen Männer durchzusetzen. Nur einmal sind ihr die Gesichtszüge nach einem Affront entglitten. Sabrina Fritz mit einer quasi-feministischen Bilanz der Europapolitik von der Leyens.Ursula von der Leyen - How feminine is Europe?
Ursula von der Leyen is used to standing up to men. Only once did her features slip after an affront. Sabrina Fritz with a quasi-feminist assessment of von der Leyen's European policy.WDR 3 Mosaik 16.07.2024 04:07 Min.
Available untile 16.07.2025 WDR 3 -
Interview with Dr. Fatou Bensouda
Henriette Müller (Assistant Professor of Gender, Governance & Society) has recently interviewed the first female Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Her Excellency Dr. Fatou Bensouda, as part of a new initiative entitled ‘Women in Diplomacy’ introduced by LSE IDEAS, Foreign Policy Think Tank. The initiative’s mission is to address women’s continued underrepresentation in diplomacy and foreign affairs. As part of it, LSE IDEAS has launched a podcast series that brings together researchers, practitioners, and women leaders of diplomacy and international organizations, to explore how policy-making processes can produce more gender-sensitive policy outcomes. The podcast featuring the interview with Dr. Bensouda, as well as other episodes of this series, are available here. -
New Book Review: Women and Leadership in the European Union (OUP, 2022)
Here you will find the latest review of my co-edited book Women and Leadership in the European Union (together with Ingeborg Tömmel) by Petra Ahrens in Gender (2023, 2, pp. 148-150). -
New Book Review: Political Leadership and the European Commission Presidency (OUP, 2020)
Here you will find the latest review of my book Political Leadership and the European Commission Presidency by Buket Osztas in Perspectives on Politics (2023, 21(1), pp. 409-310). -
Online Book Talk: Women and Leadership (April 25, 2023) in the European Union
European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), European ParliamentSpeakers: Henriette Müller and Ingeborg Tömmel
Discussant: Michelangelo Vercesi
Moderator: Gabriele Umbach -
TROUW (Dutch Newspaper, April 30, 2022)
Romana Abels, Niemand besefte dat Brussel een kanon had binnengehaald [Nobody realized that Brussels had brought in a cannon]Book Review on “Women and Leadership in the European Union“ (co-edited by Henriette Müller and Ingeborg Tömmel)
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NYUAD Student Leadership Program (Pilot Study)
Janice Liu, “Preparing Future Leaders,” November 30, 2021 in World and Society, www.nyuad.nyu.edu