Rate My Professor Michiel Bot

Michiel Bot is Associate Professor of Law and Humanities in the Department of Public Law and Governance at Tilburg Law School, Tilburg University. He serves as Program Director of the major Law in an International Context at University College Tilburg, where he teaches and supervises students in fundamental rights, jurisprudence, and law, politics, and the humanities. Bot obtained his PhD in Comparative Literature from New York University in 2013. Prior to his current position, he held a postdoctoral fellowship in Politics and Humanities at Bard College in New York from 2013 to 2015 and worked as Visiting Assistant Professor of Literature and Society at Al Quds Bard College in Palestine. His academic trajectory reflects an interdisciplinary background bridging literature, politics, and law.

Bot's research focuses on law and humanities, law and politics, fundamental rights, and critical theory. His recent publications address pressing issues such as freedom of expression, demonstration rights, boycott movements, undocumented migrants, municipal ID cards, race, colonialism, law, and the nation-state. Key works include "Habermas, de democratische rechtsstaat en de Israëluitzondering: Naar een daadwerkelijk kritische theorie van de mensenrechten" published in Nederlands Tijdschrift voor de Mensenrechten (2026), "Legislating the Historical Resonance of Boycott in Germany: Memory and Staatsräson in the Bundestag’s 2019 Resolution against BDS" in Memory and the Language of Contention (2025), and "Palestinadiscussies en protesten op de universiteit: Uitingsvrijheid en democratie of bestuurlijke willekeur, censuur en securisering?" in Nederlands Juristenblad (2025). He organized the "Protest under Pressure: how to confront repressive actions" conference in 2024 and chairs the Werkgroep City ID since 2022. Bot received TSHD Seed Money Call 2023 funding for the project "Decolonizing Globalization: Reading Migration through Environmental Justice," contributing to SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions). He has delivered invited talks, including on disrupting undocumentation and municipal ID cards, and participated in panel discussions on legal education and Palestinian issues.