Research areas

The Centre for Gender, Peace and Security conducts interdisciplinary research encompassing feminist and gender studies, international relations, international political economy, war and military studies, peace and conflict studies, political sociology, queer studies, and ethnography.

Associates and affiliates of the centre work in multiple languages and are involved in projects covering all world regions, though with a strong focus on Sweden/ the Nordics. The work is carried out by emerging and established scholars at different stages of their career paths, including doctoral and post-doctoral researchers, using diverse research methods to work across feminist research, activism, and practice.

Research themes

The Centre’s research projects and collaborations examine how gender intersects with war, peace, politics, and security. The research sheds light on how conflicts and political changes affect individuals and societies, as well as how various actors work toward peace, gender equality, and democracy. The work encompasses several areas that overlap and influence one another:

• Women, Conflict, and Peace: Women’s participation in armed conflicts, political transformations, and peace processes
• Militarisation and War Preparedness: The impact of militarisation on society and how societies prepare for war
• The Economics and Politics of War: How gender shapes the economic and political conditions of war
• Feminist Mobilisation and Resistance: The role of feminist movements in promoting democracy and resisting oppression
• Gender and the Armed Forces: Gender mainstreaming and equality within the defense sector
• Digital Technology and Security: The relationship between digital technology, authoritarian governance, and security

Projects

• Evaluating gender integration efforts in the Swedish Armed Forces - Försvarshögskolan
• What makes a soldier? Queering inside/outside binaries in the Swedish armed forces
• Women's organisations in Sweden's and Finland's war preparedness
• Revisiting feminist perspectives on peace, (in)security and war - Försvarshögskolan
• Fighting for a feminist future: Women's mobilization in post-conflict and complex security environments
• Innovative community building: Inclusion of gender, ethnicity and LGBTQ rights in urban sustainable work
• Militarized reproduction: Women's work and civil war
• Shaping the WPS agenda? The role of insurgent women in (post)peace agreement politics in Colombia
• From combatants and war supporters to peacemakers? Women's participation in political violence and political transitions (gendered transitions)
• Technofascism, feminist and democracy