Dr B. Reinalda (Bob)

Bob Reinalda is Fellow at the Department of Political Science of Radboud University, Nijmegen, NL. He was trained at the University of Amsterdam as a Political Scientist, focusing on International Relations, and as a Social Historian, focusing on social movements. He holds a PhD in Social Sciences from the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (1981).

Bob Reinalda is Co-Editor of the international research project, called IO BIO: the Biographical Dictionary of Secretaries-General of International Organizations, together with Kent J. Kille (College of Wooster, Ohio, US), Jaci L. Eisenberg (Graduate Institute, Geneva, Switzerland), Dawisson Belém Lopes (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil) and Ellen Ravndal (University of Stavanger, Norway). The project, with over 75 contributors, has published over 110 entries with life and career descriptions. In 2026 the IO BIO website has moved from Nijmegen to the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland. See: www.io-bio.ch.

Reinalda’s research focuses on leadership by Executive Heads of IOs and the development of international secretariats of IOs and multilateral conferences. His book 'International Secretariats: Two Centuries of International Civil Servants and Secretariats' was published by Routledge (2020). He authored the article ‘Institutional Development of the United Nations Secretariat’ in the special issue for the 75th anniversary of the UN in the journal ‘Global Governance’ (June 2020, 26/2). He edited the second edition of the Routledge Handbook of International Organization (2013, 2025) together with Marieke Louis (Sciences Po, Lille). This edition has Nijmegen contributions by Bertjan Verbeek and Anna van der Vleuten.