Malena Rosén Sundström

Political science

Main research or teaching areas

• Feminist foreign policy
• Political parties
• Negotiations in the EU
• Swedish EU-politics

Current teaching and research

My main areas of interest are feminist foreign policy, decision-making and negotiations in the European Union, Swedish EU-politics, party politics, deliberative democracy and political psychology.

My current research project is about Sweden's feminist government (2014-2022), financed by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (2026-2027). The focus is on Sweden's government 2014-2022, the world’s first explicitly declared feminist government. The project analyses the establishment and the implementation of this idea, and if and how feminism was translated into practice. It contributes with new empirical insights as well as a theoretical discussion about what a feminist government is and can be.The project also includes a comparison with Jacinda Ardern's government in New Zealand (2017-2023). Ardern has described her leadership as empathetic leadership, and some researchers have characterized it as feminist leadership, although the government was not declared as a feminist government. More information about the project is found here.

Together with my colleague Ekatherina Zhukova, I previously led the research project "Sweden as a norm entrepreneur: The case of the Feminist Foreign Policy", financed by Riksbanken (2020-2022). More Information about the project is found here. Our colleague Ole Elgström acts as senior advisor on the project.

I have also headed the research project "Political participation among young people – from party members to social media activists?" (with Hanna Bäck, Department of Political Science LU; Nils Gustafsson, Department of Strategic Communication LU and Emma Bäck, Department of Psychology, Gothenburg University), financed by Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation. 

I defended my Doctoral Thesis, "Förankring av socialdemokratisk EU-politik - med rum för demokratisk debatt?" in 2009 (which is available in full text here). It concerns the Swedish Social Democratic party’s handling of the issues of EU- and EMU-membership.

I teach International Politics (first term level), Foreign Policy Analysis (Bachelor level), European Governance and Research Interviews (Master level). The academic year 2026-2027 I do not teach, due to full-time research.