Research

To date, much of my research has examined norm and practice change in global politics, with a primary focus on international organizations, global security governance, and multilateral peace and stability operations. I have particular expertise on peacekeeping and peacebuilding; protection of civilians; children and armed conflict; gendered dimensions of armed conflict; human rights and humanitarianism; security force assistance and professional military education; and qualitative and interpretive methods. My current research interests include the politics of change, learning, and expertise in international organizations and evolving forms of security cooperation amid heightened strategic competition.

Publications (peer reviewed)

Books

Bernstein, Steven, Aarie Glas, and Marion Laurence. Norms, Practices, and Social Change in Global Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Laurence, Marion. Intrusive Impartiality: Learning, Contestation, and Practice Change in United Nations Peace Operations. New York: Oxford University Press, 2024.

Journal Articles

Laurence, Marion, Emily Paddon Rhoads, and Sarah von Billerbeck. “The Scope for Agency and the Role of Individuals in UN Peace Operations.” International Peacekeeping, vol. 32, no. 2 (2025): 161-174.

Laurence, Marion. “Interpretive Agency, Change, and the Role of Individuals in UN Peace Operations.” International Peacekeeping, vol. 32, no. 2 (2025): 204-227.

Laurence, Marion. “Mission Impossible? Protection Dilemmas and the Future of Human Rights Due Diligence in UN Peace Operations.” Canadian Military Journal, vol. 25, no. 3 (2025): 11-20.

Dunton, Caroline, Marion Laurence and Gino Vlavonou. “‘Pragmatic Peacekeeping in a Multipolar Era: Liberal Norms, Practices and the Future UN Peace Operations.” Journal of Intervention & Statebuilding, vol. 17, no. 3 (2023).

Glas, Aarie and Marion Laurence. “Changing Norms in Practice: Non-Interference in the UN and ASEAN.” Journal of Global Security Studies, vol 7, no. 2 (2022).

Laurence, Marion. (2019) “An ‘Impartial’ Force? Normative Ambiguity and Practice Change in UN Peace Operations.” International Peacekeeping, vol. 26, no. 3: pp. 256-280.

Book Chapters

Laurence, Marion. “Norms, Ideas, and International Organizations.” In A Research Agenda for International Organizations, Fanny Badache and Joel Oestreich (eds.). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Forthcoming.

Bernstein, Steven, Aarie Glas, and Marion Laurence. “Environmental Norms and Practices.” In Understanding Environmental Norms, Justin Alger and Peter Dauvergne (eds.). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2026.

Laurence, Marion. “Middle Powers.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies. Nukhet Sandal (ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.

Alejandro, Audrey, Marion Laurence, and Lucile Maertens. “Discourse Analysis.” In Introduction to International Organization Research Methods, eds. Fanny Badache, Emilie Dairon, Leah R. Kimber, and Lucile Maertens. Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press, 2023.

Bernstein, Steven and Marion Laurence. “Practices and Norms: Relationships, Disjunctures, and Change.” In Conceptualizing International Practices, eds. Christian Bueger, Alena Drieschova, and Ted Hopf, 77-99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.

Laurence, M. with Emily Paddon Rhoads. “Constructivism.” In United Nations Peacekeeping and International Relations Theory, eds. John Karlsrud and Kseniya Oksamytna. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020.

Laurence, Marion with Emily Paddon Rhoads. “Peace Operations, Principles, and Doctrine.” In Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies, eds. Oliver Richmond and Gëzim Visoka. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Selected policy-oriented publications

Department of National Defence. JDN 2023-01 – Canadian Armed Forces Joint Doctrine Note: Canadian Armed Forces Responses to Preventing the Recruitment and Use of Children in Conflict. Ottawa: Government of Canada, 31 May 2023.

Laurence, M. “Managing Cooperation with Troubled States: Protection of Civilians, Human Rights Due Diligence, and the UN Mission in Mali.” Defence and Security Foresight Group Working Paper, University of Waterloo, 2021.

Laurence, M. Mapping the Field: Programmes for Defence and Security Professionals Related to Children and Armed Conflict. Kingston: Canadian Defence Academy, 2021.

Laurence, M., Caroline Dunton and Gino Vlavonou. “Action for Peacekeeping? Middle Powers, Liberal Internationalism, and the Future of UN Peace Operations.” 13 September 2021, CIPS Blog. Centre for International Policy Studies, University of Ottawa.

Laurence, M. “Practice Theory, Tacit Knowledge, and Changes in Peacekeeping Practice.” Global Cooperation Research – A Quarterly Magazine, 01/2021. Centre for Global Cooperation Research, University of Duisburg-Essen.

Laurence, M. “What does the Coup in Mali Mean for UN Peacekeepers in the Country?” 19 November 2020, CIPS Blog. Centre for International Policy Studies, University of Ottawa.

Laurence, M. (2020) “Data-Driven Peacekeeping and the Vancouver Principles: Towards Improved Monitoring and Reporting for Grave Violations Against Children.” Allons-y: Journal of Children, Peace and Security, vol. 4 (March 2020): 73-85.

Laurence, M. “Data Analysis and the Future of United Nations Peacekeeping.” Au Courant. Global Affairs Canada. (March 2020)

Laurence, M. (2020) “What are the Benefits and Pitfalls of ‘Data-Driven’ Peacekeeping?” 9 January 2020, CIPS Blog, Centre for International Policy Studies, University of Ottawa.

Laurence, M. (2019) What are the Benefits and Pitfalls of ‘Data-Driven’ Peacekeeping? Ottawa: Centre for International Policy Studies.

Laurence, M. (2017) “Aligning goals and core principles in UN peacekeeping,” Policy Options, November 9th.

Manuscripts in Progress

Laurence, Marion. (2026) “Practical Knowledge and Protection Dilemmas in Multilateral Peace and Stability Operations.”

Hughes, David and Marion Laurence. (2026) “When Soft Law Follows Hard Law: An Accidental Ethnography of Recursive Soft Law-making on Children and Armed Conflict”

Johnson, Dustin and Marion Laurence. (2025) “Hierarchy, Global Inequality, and Research Ethics in Multinational Research on UN Peacekeeping.”