Gudlaug OlafsdottirPostdoc

About me

Gudlaug Olafsdottir is a post-doctoral researcher at the Stockholm Center on Global Governance, within the Political Science department at Stockholm University. She is also a part-time researcher at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University, where she obtained her PhD in November 2024. Broadly, her research focuses on the political dynamics of semi-democratic regimes, with a particular focus on electoral politics. At the SCGG, she is investigating different political regimes’ contestation of global governance. Moreover, with researchers at Uppsala University and the Nordic Africa Institute, she is investigating election boycotts and the conditions under which they are likely to yield concessions. Her research to date covers topics relating to electoral violence and how it influences democratization, organized student violence, and conflict forecasting, using machine learning techniques to estimate the future risk of armed conflict. Methodologically, she takes a varied approach. Beyond applied statistical modelling, she has conducted qualitative field research in Turkey and Uganda, and contributed to several cross-national quantitative data collection efforts. She has also served as a Short-Term Observer within three OSCE Election Observation Missions, done consultancies for International IDEA and the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, and written a policy brief published by Women In International Security on women’s rights in post-conflict settings.

Recent publications:

Olafsdottir, G. (2025). Precarious Paths to Democracy: Electoral Violence and the Struggle for Democratization. Development Dissertation Brief No.3 2025. The Expert Group for Aid Studies (EBA), Sweden.

Olafsdottir, G. (2025). The Conditions for Reducing Electoral Violence Through Constitutional Reform. Journal of Peace Research, forthcoming.

Olafsdottir G. (2025). Election-related violence. In: Review of the 2024 Super Cycle Year of Elections: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities. International IDEA, Sweden.

Olafsdottir G. & Kalin, I. (2025). The Peace Process and Constitutional Reforms in Turkey. SUITS Policy Brief Series No. 2 2025, Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies, Sweden.

Fjelde H. & Olafsdottir (2025). Viewing Violence through a Partisan Lens: How Electoral Violence Shapes Citizens’ Support for Democracy. Government and Opposition, 60(2), 313-334.

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