Dr. Karmen Tornius has a background in anthropology (BA, Tallinn University) and African studies (MA, SOAS, University of London). She earned her PhD from the Roskilde University and Danish Institute for International Studies where she produces her publication-based dissertation ‘Regional gender governance in Africa: The African Union in perspective’. After finalizing her PhD, Karmen conducted commissioned policy research at the Danish Institute for International Studies. Karmen is a currently postdoctoral researcher at the Cluster of Excellence “Constestations of the Liberal Script” at the Freie Universität Berlin. She studies the African imprints on the global women’s rights norms, focusing on United Nations World Conferences of Women Nairobi (1985) and Beijing (1995). Karmen’s broader research interest include African regional politics, women’s rights, technocratic approaches to governance and political ethnography.

Resarch Interests

• African regional politics
• Women’s rights and gender politics
• Transnational governance institutions
• Individual agency in international politics
• Political ethnography

Peer-reviewed

• Tornius, K. (2024). A Tale of Two Femocrats: Brokering Gender Norms in Addis Ababa. Millennium, First View. https://doi.org/10.1177/03058298241231488
• Lapiņa, L., Singla, R., Suárez-Krabbe, J., Tornius, K., & Horn, L. (2023). How is the anti/not/un-racist university a radical idea? : Experiences from the Solidarity Initiative at Roskilde University. Kvinder, Køn & Forskning, 36(2), 168–177. https://doi.org/10.7146/kkf.v36i2.132553.
• Tornius, K. (2023) A non-event: ratifying the African Women’s Rights framework in Ethiopia. Journal of Eastern African Studies. doi: 10.1080/17531055.2023.2268363
• Tornius, K. (2023). Pan-African gender governance: The politics of aspiration at the African Union. Review of International Studies, 1-22. doi:10.1017/S0260210523000293
• Tornius, K. (2022). Staying with the Culture Struggle: The African Union and Eliminating Violence Against Women. African Studies Review, 65(3), 615-641. doi:10.1017/asr.2022.68

Policy and other

• Tornius, K. and Engberg-Pedersen, L. (2024) Gender-responsive development: opportunities for co-operation between the African Union, its member states and Denmark. DIIS Working Paper.
• Tornius, K. (2024) The African Union’s contested role in advancing gender equality. DIIS Policy Brief.
• Tornius, K., Kolling, M. and Engberg-Pedersen, L. (2023). Women, peace and security beyond resolutions. DIIS Policy Brief.
• Tornius, K., Kolling, M. and Engberg-Pedersen, L. (2023). Implementing the global women, peace and security agenda in Ethiopia, Kenya and Mali. DIIS Report 2023:03.
• Tornius, K. (2023). Is violence against women a cultural problem? Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa. Africa at LSE Blog.
• Tornius, K. (2022). The culture struggle, African Union and eliminating violence against women. British International Studies Association. Africa and International Studies Blog.