Researcher
Jenny Lorentzen
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Summary
Jenny Lorentzen is a Senior Research Fellow in the research group for Peace, Conflict and Development at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), where she conducts research on norms, Women Peace and Security (WPS), and gender in peace processes, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding. She is the PI of a Researcher Project for Early Career Scientists titled “From combatants and war supporters to peacemakers? Women’s participation in political violence and political transitions (Gendered Transitions)” funded by the Research Council of Norway 2025-2028. Lorentzen holds a PhD in Political Science from Lund University (2020). Her research has been published in international academic journals such as International Affairs, International Political Science Review, the Journal of Modern African Studies, and International Peacekeeping. Lorentzen is a member of the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) International Research Working Groups for the period 2023–2027.
Expertise
Education
2020 PhD in Political Science, Lund University
2012 MSc in International Relations, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)/Norwegian Institute for International Affairs (NUPI)
2009 BA in Asian and African Studies, University of Oslo
Work Experience
2023- Senior Research Fellow, Norwegian Institute for International Affairs (NUPI)
2021-2023 Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Political Science, Lund University
2015-2020 Doctoral Researcher, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) & Department of Political Science, Lund University
2012-2015 Research Assistant, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
Aktivitet
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Clear all filtersProspects for Dialogue in the Central Sahel
Over the past decade, dialogue processes have been a cornerstone of national and international efforts to address the multifaceted crisis affecting the countries of the Central Sahel. Since 2020, the military has seized power in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger and radically changed the approach to solving the crisis and the role of dialogue. Is there still room for dialogue as an instrument of peace in the Central Sahel and, if so, in what form? This is a key question this report addresses. Three thematic arenas of dialogue are reviewed: regional diplomatic dialogue, dialogue with jihadist insurgents, and women’s participation in conflict resolution and national dialogue processes. The report takes stock of progress made in these dialogue arenas over the years, discusses the remaining challenges under the Sahelian military regimes, and makes concrete recommendations to national, regional and international actors for how dialogue can be supported in the current political and security climate characterizing the region.
What can a National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security do for Colombia?
Colombia launched its first 1325 NAP in November 2024, after a participatory process involving more than 1,500 women from different backgrounds across the country. Colombian women’s organizations are divided on the usefulness of the NAP: Some argue it can dilute attention from the 2016 peace agreement. Others believe it can have a positive effect on the implementation of the gender provisions of the agreement, which is lagging. The political context of increasing levels of conflict, failing peace negotiations and upcoming elections poses further challenges to the implementation of the 1325 NAP. The international community can support the implementation of the 1325 NAP through coordination-support, monitoring, awareness raising, and with technical expertise. This policy brief outlines the process of developing the NAP, the current political context in which the NAP is going to be implemented, and what challenges exist for its implementation.
Training for Peace 2025 - 2028 (TfP)
In its new phase (2025-2028) the TfP will strengthen its partnership and collaboration with the African Union, by providing applied research, policy support and capacity-building. ...
How can peacekeeping contribute to advancing Women, Peace and Security?
When UN member states contribute expertise and capacity building, this can simultaneously contribute to advancing Women, Peace and Security. This is, however, likely to be a function of the gender norms of the society and security sector of the Police Contributing Country in question. Police Contributing Countries that seek to contribute to advancing the WPS agenda, should therefore work towards gendering their own security sectors. If gender mainstreaming remains an individual responsibility, advancing gender equality and the WPS agenda in peacekeeping is not likely to have a transformative effect on the security sectors of host countries. Interventions and projects seeking to affect transformative change should target structural factors of gender inequality, such as existing gender norms in the workplace. However, such actions also need to go beyond the security sector itself, as women’s choices are also limited by societal, cultural and religious norms.
Malian women's experiences with violent extremism. What is known and how is it known?
This chapter analyses knowledge production about Malian women’s experiences in the context of the global agenda on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE). Research increasingly asserts that global discourse about women’s roles in preventing violent extremism tends to represent women in highly gender-stereotypical and limited ways, and women’s lived experiences with violent extremism are often missing from these accounts. The chapter suggests that these limitations are related to whose voices are heard, and how knowledge is produced, and circulated. Starting from an understanding of the omissions and silences in the global episteme as forms of epistemic violence, the chapter discusses the ways in which knowledge about Malian women’s experiences challenges, expands and feeds into the P/CVE episteme (or not). The analysis is based on a combination of sources, including reports and published accounts, reports from international and Malian human rights NGOs and statements by Malian activists to the UN Security Council.
From combatants and war supporters to peacemakers? Women’s participation in political violence and political transitions (Gendered Transitions)
In the “Gendered Transitions”-project, the researchers will study how women’s participation in political violence translates into their participation in peace processes. ...
Explaining changes in women’s representation in peace processes: The adoption of a gender quota in the Agreement Monitoring Committee in Mali
How can we explain changes in women’s representation in peace processes? Based on an analysis of interviews with key actors in the peace process and documents, this article examines the events, factors and actors that contributed to the introduction of a gender quota in the Malian peace process (2015-2023). After a peace agreement was signed in 2015 between the Malian government and two rebel groups, several mechanisms and committees were established to contribute to its implementation. An Agreement Monitoring Committee was also established, where representatives of the parties were to meet regularly to make decisions related to the overall implementation of the agreement. Until November 2020, the parties’ delegates to this committee consisted exclusively of men. Since the outbreak of conflict in 2012, through ceasefire negotiations, peace negotiations, and the implementation of the peace agreement, Malian women’s groups have been fighting for increased participation. But such demands were usually met with resistance from the parties to the peace process. This changed in 2020, however, when the same parties adopted a 30% gender quota in the monitoring committee. The article therefore addresses a central issue surrounding women's participation in peace processes: How can important actors be persuaded to change their minds, and move from opposing women's participation to adopting a 30% gender quota? The analysis finds that changes in women's representation are facilitated by critical actors who initiate or stimulate others to support and/or promote women-friendly reforms. Furthermore, two enabling conditions must be present: On the one hand, international gender equality norms, together with international pressure to promote these norms; and on the other hand, women’s mobilization, including women’s activists’ use of international frameworks to advocate for gender-based reforms. The analysis shows how these enabling conditions were present in the Malian case. Furthermore, the article analyses and shows how critical actors who supported the peace process contributed to “political accumulation”, that is, the gradual building of political recognition for the issue of women’s inclusion over time. This happened through a combination of increases in the number of actors and initiatives supporting and promoting women’s inclusion and the repeated exposure and learning among the parties and other key actors. Critical actors also collaborated with and supported Malian women’s organizations and women leaders engaged in activism for women’s increased representation in the peace process. Additionally, critical actors actively worked to remove counter-arguments and obstacles – for example, through funding and capacity-building. This contributed to a more enabling environment in which the benefits of supporting the gender quota began to outweigh the costs of opposing it. The article concludes that the combined efforts of critical actors, which occurred in a context of international gender equality norms and women’s mobilization, contributed to changes in the behaviour of key actors and made possible the adoption of a gender quota in the monitoring committee.
Improving the impact of the UN Peacebuilding Commission and enhancing the synergy of the Peacebuilding Architecture - Input Paper for the 2025 (...
The United Nations Peacebuilding Architecture – consisting of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) and the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) - was established in 2005. In 2025, 20 years after the PBA was established, the Architecture will undergo a review. This Input Paper, by researchers from the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), serves as an input to this review. It is informed by NUPI’s research on peacebuilding and related areas, including the research undertaken in support of the previous 5-, 10- and 15-year reviews of the Peacebuilding Architecture. The main challenge that has consistently been identified over the years, including in previous reviews of the Peacebuilding Architecture, is the perceived lack of impact and relevance of the Peacebuilding Commission. In our assessment, the Peacebuilding Commission’s attention to countries and regions are too ad hoc and fleeting to generate meaningful information and analysis. This is one of the main areas that we single out for improvement. This input paper therefore focuses on providing a set of practical recommendations for how the impact of the Peacebuilding Commission can be improved, and how the synergies of the Peacebuilding Architecture can be enhanced.
Women, Peace and Security in MONUSCO: Trends, Lessons and Emerging Practices
For nearly 25 years, the United Nations (UN) has had a peacekeeping mission deployed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) was deployed in 1999. The deployment of MONUC coincided with an evolution taking place in the UN Security Council regarding the centrality of women’s political participation in peace processes and the importance of considering women’s protection needs as part of the maintenance of international peace and security. The adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325 and the establishment of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda in the year 2000 would have an instrumental impact on the mandates of UN peacekeeping missions, including those deployed in the DRC over the following two decades. This report examines how MONUSCO has worked to implement the WPS dimensions of its mandate in the period 2010 to 2021. Assessing the approach to the mandate and its more recent implementation offers insights into the contribution and limitations of UN peacekeeping when it comes to advancing women’s protection and meaningful participation in a conflict-affected environment. MONUSCO’s approach to WPS has evolved in the period under study. The mandate had a rather narrow understanding of WPS at the outset, with provisions to address violence and threats towards women, reflective of the insecurity and gendered threats within the DRC. These threats have remained, as have more comprehensive provisions in the mandate to address them, but the mandate has also evolved in recent years to include a more substantive focus on women’s participation in conflict prevention and political processes. The mission has developed a range of innovative practices targeted at improving women’s security and equality in the country, as part of the WPS provisions in MONUSCO’s mandate. These have included developing a women mediators’ network, mapping security threats to women, supporting initiatives to address discriminatory media coverage, and implementing positive masculinity programmes. This report offers recommendations to MONUSCO, UN Headquarters, the Security Council and Member States, troop- and police-contributing countries (T/PCCs), and the national authorities when it comes to strengthening the implementation of the WPS aspects of the mission’s mandate in the DRC, with wider lessons for other UN peacekeeping missions in terms of their approach to WPS.