12 Facts About Paul Cliteur

Paul Bernard Cliteur was born on 6 September 1955 and is a Dutch professor of jurisprudence at Leiden University, as well as a politician, philosopher, writer, publicist and columnist.

Paul Cliteur is known for his conservative perspective, his atheism, his republicanism, and his dislike of Islam.

Since 2015, Cliteur has been a member of the Dutch political party Forum voor Democratie, where he is chairman of the advisory board and the party's official think tank.

Paul Cliteur has been on the board of several organisations, including supervisor of the Telders Foundation, and from 1993 until 1995 chair of the Humanist League.

Paul Cliteur studied law and philosophy, and graduated on 22 March 1989 with his dissertation Conservatisme en cultuurrecht.

Paul Cliteur is Professor of Jurisprudence at Leiden University, where he delivered his maiden speech on 28 May 2004 on "The neutral state, particular education and multiculturalism".

Paul Cliteur is mainly known for his opining works, in which he expresses his political views.

Paul Cliteur served as a columnist for, amongst others, Trouw, and had a spoken column in the TV show Buitenhof.

In March 2004, Paul Cliteur told Het Parool in an interview that he felt he was being limited in freely expressing his opinions on Islam after others branded him a "racist" and "stigmatiser".

Paul Cliteur felt it necessary to moderate the tone of his spoken columns for Buitenhof.

Paul Cliteur is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the right-wing party populist party Forum for Democracy, and he was a mentor for the party's leader, Thierry Baudet, whose doctoral dissertation he directed, a dissertation seen as the ideological source for the "anti-immigration, anti-European Union party" Baudet founded later.

Paul Cliteur has been connected to the party since 2015, and in 2019 was elected to the Dutch Senate.