Angela Muvumba-Sellström (Uppsala University/Nordic Africa Institute), Sithembile Mbete (University of Pretoria), and Louise Olsson (PRIO) have received funding from the Swedish Research Council to deepen the understanding of African countries' opportunities to make the UN Security Council more inclusive and responsive to women’s participation and security. 

While previous research has tended to treat the Council as a unitary actor, this project will seek to compare and learn from non-permanent state capacities and politics of elected states, when in the UN Security Council. Using comparative methods, the project strives to capture dynamics related to economic development, contributions to peacekeeping, and roles in regional conflicts and their solution. 

The project places a particular emphasis on collaborations between younger researchers from the African continent and on public dissemination and dialogue. The project is part of a broader PRIO-Uppsala University/NAI effort to expand our knowledge on the role of elected members in the UN Security Council at a time of drastic changes in the geopolitical landscape, including an ongoing project on Sweden’s strategy and efforts in the Council (2017-2018) funded by the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Folke Bernadotte Academy, Sweden.