The Free and Open Indo-Pacific: Economics, Politics, and Norms
Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP) strategy aims to promote economic prosperity, peace, free trade, and the rule of law across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Scholars primarily have interpreted FOIP through three lenses: economics, security, and norms. Economically, it reflects Japan’s support for regional connectivity, trade, and infrastructure development as both a growth strategy and a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In security terms, FOIP emphasizes maritime readiness, defense cooperation with like-minded partners, and adherence to international maritime law amid tensions in the South and East China Seas. Normatively, it advances Japan’s values-based diplomacy, promoting democracy, human rights, and a rules-based order in contrast to authoritarian models. Since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe introduced FOIP in 2016, the concept has been adopted and adapted by many and diverse actors, each aligning it with their own strategic aims. This flexibility, unlike the more centralized BRI, is a hallmark of FOIP, resulting in a co-created, evolving, and often strategically ambiguous foreign policy. Dozens of countries from across the world incorporate FOIP language in their foreign and security policies, forming what some may consider a “narrative alliance” in the international system. The scholarship on FOIP is growing rapidly, yet there remain significant theoretical, methodological, and empirical questions unanswered.
Gender equality in global climate governance
Gender equality is now formally embedded in global climate governance. Yet in practice, climate policy reflects a divided agenda. Developed countries tend to perform better on gender-balanced participation in climate negotiations, while developing countries more consistently integrate gender into their pledges under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This divide is driven by differences in incentives, financing structures, and how countries use their NDCs. For many developing countries, integrating gender into climate policy is closely tied to accessing international climate finance and demonstrating alignment with donor expectations. For developed countries, gender equality is often addressed through domestic policy frameworks, but is less visible in international climate commitments. The result is a fragmented approach in which participation and policy evolve separately, limiting the effectiveness of gender-responsive climate action and reducing opportunities for shared learning across countries.
Strategic Climate Balancing: What the International Community Can Do as the United States Steps Back
The United States’ withdrawal from international climate institutions under the second Trump administration poses a serious challenge to global climate cooperation. Given the scale of US emissions and the dismantling of federal climate capacity, the international community cannot depend on a future policy reversal in Washington. Instead, this policy brief advances a strategy of “climate balancing” that seeks to sustain decarbonisation by working around the US federal government. Climate balancing focuses on three priorities: direct engagement with US states and cities that continue to pursue ambitious climate action; the construction of industrial alliances that leverage clean energy constituencies through tools such as coordinated carbon pricing and border adjustment mechanisms; and reframing climate action as a matter of energy security and geopolitical competition, particularly in light of China’s growing dominance in clean energy supply chains. Together, these measures aim to limit free-rider dynamics, preserve momentum in global climate governance, and keep the conditions for eventual US re-engagement open, demonstrating that effective climate cooperation can persist even in the absence of US federal leadership.
The EU and the Geopolitics of the Oceans
Norwegian Centre for Geopolitics: Alf Håkon Hoel (UiT) and Linda S. Dahlberg (UiT) analyse the EU's role as a geopolitical power in ocean governance. With 22 maritime member states and over five million km² of European sea areas, the EU is a significant actor at sea – though its influence varies considerably by region. While the Baltic Sea is almost entirely an EU domain, EU member states are actually a minority among the coastal states of the Mediterranean. The authors also examine ongoing initiatives such as the European Ocean Pact, the EU Arctic Policy and Horizon Europe, and discuss their implications for Norway as an EEA member and a key maritime nation in the High North.
Who Killed the Liberal International Order and What Comes Next?
The Norwegian Centre for Geopolitics invites you to a lecture on the world's most urgent ‘whodunnit’: "Who Killed the Liberal International Order and What Comes Next?".
Environmental dimensions of conflict in the Lake Chad region
In this episode of the NUPI podcast The World Stage, Cedric de Coning (NUPI) sits down with Louise Lieberknecht (formerly GRID-Arendal) who is one...
EU, hav og geopolitikk
Framsenteret: Linda S. Dahlberg (UiT) og Alf Håkon Hoel (UiT) undersøker EUs rolle som geopolitisk stormakt i forvaltningen av havområder. Med 27 medlemsland, over fire millioner km² landmasse og 450 millioner innbyggere utgjør EU en betydelig makt også i maritim forstand. Forfatterne setter søkelys på hvordan geografi og naturgitte forhold legger føringer på EUs politikk og agering i havforvaltningen.
Who killed the liberal international order and what comes next?
The Norwegian Centre for Geopolitics and NUPI invite you to a lecture on the world's most urgent ‘whodunnit’: "Who Killed the Liberal International Order and What Comes Next?".