About the Institute

Since 2022, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has invited the four Indo-Pacific partners (IP4)—Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea—to its annual summits, reflecting the growing interconnectedness of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions. This linkage extends beyond traditional foreign and security policy to encompass economic security, trade and investment, supply chains, emerging technologies, international standards, and industrial cooperation.

Geopolitical and geoeconomic competition, particularly between the United States and China, is further accelerating interaction between the two regions. At the same time, developments such as North Korea's involvement in Russia's war against Ukraine and the growing engagement of European countries in the Indo-Pacific demonstrate that political, economic, technological, and security developments in Europe and the Indo-Pacific can no longer be understood in isolation.

The Institute for NATO and IP4 Studies provides an interdisciplinary platform for research and policy dialogue on these transformations. With NATO and the IP4 as its two principal research pillars, the Institute examines the evolving relationship between the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions across political, security, economic, technological, and institutional domains.

Purpose

The Institute seeks to advance multi-regional and interdisciplinary research that transcends the conventional analytical separation between Europe and the Indo-Pacific. By bringing together perspectives from international relations, security studies, economics, business, and technology, it aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the forces shaping cooperation and competition between the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions.

One of the Institute's central research interests concerns the transformation of the international order and changing patterns of cooperation and competition across the two regions. The Institute examines how geopolitical and geoeconomic competition, shifts in U.S. foreign policy, and changes in the global economy affect relations among NATO countries, the IP4, and other Indo-Pacific actors. Its research covers trade and investment, economic security, supply-chain resilience, critical and emerging technologies, business and industrial cooperation, and the development and diffusion of international standards, as well as more traditional issues of foreign policy and security.

The Institute also explores the implications of these developments for the changing structure of the international system. In the context of U.S.–China strategic competition and continuing debates over bipolarity, multipolarity, unipolarity, and non-polarity, it investigates how closer linkages among European and Indo-Pacific countries may affect regional and global balances of power. Particular attention is also given to how "America First" policies and uncertainty over traditional U.S. international commitments may influence the strategic and economic choices of European countries, the IP4, and other regional actors.

Another major research focus is the role of middle powers and coalitions of middle powers in shaping regional and global orders. While conventional approaches to international relations tend to emphasize the predominant influence of great powers, the Institute examines how middle powers can exercise agency individually and collectively across multiple domains. These include security cooperation, economic and technological partnerships, supply-chain resilience, international standard-setting, and regional and global governance. Through theoretical and empirical research, the Institute seeks to identify the conditions and mechanisms through which middle powers can contribute to the formation, transformation, and maintenance of regional and international orders.

The Institute promotes interdisciplinary exchanges among scholars, policy researchers, and practitioners working in international relations, security, economics, business, technology, international standards, and related fields. It seeks to strengthen collaboration with universities, think tanks, policy institutes, government agencies, international organizations, and relevant public- and private-sector organizations in Korea and abroad.

Core Activities

• Conducting commissioned and collaborative research projects funded by governments, international organizations, and public and private research foundations in NATO and IP4 countries.
• Organizing international conferences, workshops, and seminars with support from NATO Headquarters and other relevant institutions.
• Conducting interdisciplinary research on political, security, economic, business, technological, and institutional developments connecting the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions.
• Organizing online Crisis Response Simulations involving undergraduate and graduate students from universities in NATO and IP4 countries.
• Publishing Policy Briefs on major political, security, economic, technological, business, and institutional developments affecting the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions.
• Promoting research on economic security, trade and investment, hybrid threats, resilient supply chains, critical and emerging technologies, industrial cooperation, and international standard-setting.
• Promoting joint research, academic exchanges, and policy dialogue among scholars, policymakers, business experts, and practitioners from NATO countries, the IP4, and other Indo-Pacific countries.
• Building collaborative networks with universities, research institutes, international organizations, government agencies, and relevant public- and private-sector organizations in Korea and abroad.

Organization and Programs