Sofie Rose is a Political Scientist and Postdoctoral Fellow in International Politics from the Center for War Studies, University of Southern Denmark, and currently a visiting Research Fellow at University of Vienna. She works in the span between political science, sociology, and gender studies to explore complex issues related to reconciliation, social cohesion, and gendered inequalities, emerging within contexts of armed conflict. Drawing on feminist political theory and critical security studies, her research problematizes hidden and sensitive aspects of modern warfare and peacebuilding processes. 

Research Interests:

• Gender, peace, and war
• Critical security studies
• The war in Ukraine
• Military masculinities
• Mobilization and conscription
• International relations
• Post-Soviet gender regimes 

Current Research Project:

“The Politics of Masculinity and Stigmatization of Fighting-age Ukrainian men Who Flee the War”

After Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Ukrainian government banned men aged 18-60 from leaving the country to guarantee timely mobilization for the defense of Ukraine. Yet, data suggests that more than 600.000 men of military-age have fled the war since the beginning of the invasion. This group of men has received limited attention in political, scholarly and public debates.

This project investigates how men who chose not to fight militarily are treated and perceived by the Ukrainian state and within society, unpacking how evolving understandings of masculine duty and male war roles informs these perceptions. Moreover, the project examines the perspectives, experiences and challenges faced by Ukrainian men who left abroad and/or avoid mobilization, dissecting complex narratives of guilt, fear, agency, and freedom of choice.

Based on in-depth interviews, with Ukrainians around Europe, the project contributes to a neglected debate about civilian men’s human rights in wartime, advances theoretical discussion of the politics of masculinity, conscription, and draft evasion in modern warfare, while bringing new empirical insights into how Russia’s war of aggression and Ukraine’s martial law policies affects the lives and protection of civilian Ukrainian men.

Selected Publications and Media:

Peer-reviewed

Rose, Sofie, (2024). ‘Nation of Heroes: State Stigmatization of Ukrainian Men Who Flee the War.’ Forthcoming in: Critical Studies on Security.

Rose, Sofie, (2023). ‘Stigmatization and Social Death of Survivors of Wartime Sexual Violence,’ Global Studies Quarterly, Volume 3, Issue 2. Available here: https://academic.oup.com/isagsq/article/3/2/ksad021/7150353.

Olesen S. M. and Sofie Rose, (2016). ‘Rigsfællesskab saml dig!’ Udenrigs, 1. Available here: https://tidsskrift.dk/udenrigs/article/view/118310.

Reviews

Rose, Sofie, (2023). Legacies of War: Violence, Ecologies, and Kin: by Kimberly Theidon, Durham, NC, Duke University Press, 2022, 128 pp., $22.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-4780-1838-4. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 1–3. Available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616742.2022.2158895. 

Media

Rose, Sofie, ’Ukraines tvivlsomme rekrutteringsstrategi kvæler motivationen blandt civile mænd.’ Dagbladet Information. 12. March 2024.  https://www.information.dk/debat/2024/05/ukraines-tvivlsomme-rekrutteringsstrategi-kvaeler-motivationen-blandt-civile-maend.

Zinck Winter, Bjarke of Sofie Rose, ’Vetoret er en fordømt nødvendighed.’ Jyllands-Posten. 5. May 2024. https://jyllands-posten.dk/debat/kronik/ECE17057203/vetoret-er-en-fordoemt-noedvendighed/.

Podcast, Genstart: ’Frygten for fronten,’ on draft evasion and Ukraine’s new mobilization law. Danish National Radio, Lyd. 21. May 2024. https://www.dr.dk/lyd/special-radio/genstart/genstart-2024/genstart-frygten-for-fronten-11802450212.

Interview for artikel: ’Ukraine strammer skruen for ukrainske mænd i udlandet.’ Danish National Radio News. 14. May 2024. https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/udland/ukraine-strammer-skruen-ukrainske-maend-i-udlandet.

Radio interview. ’Ny mobiliseringslov vil tvangsregistrere ukrainske mænd uden for Ukraine.’ P1 Morgen, Danish National Radio.

Dissertations

Rose, Sofie, (2023). PhD Dissertation. Stigma, Gender and Violence: Rethinking the Stigmatization of Survivors of Wartime Abuses, Available at the Library of University of Southern Denmark and the library the ‘Black Diamond’ in Copenhagen.

Rose, Sofie, (2017). MA Dissertation. Reassessing the Crime of Genocide: An Analysis of whether the ‘Genocide-Label’ Matters for Prevention, Justice and Reconciliation. Best dissertation 2017, Available at the Department of Law, University of Southern Denmark: https://mitsdu.dk/en/mit_studie/kandidat/int_sec_law/speciale/dissertations.