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Open research questions in International Relations and Foreign Policy

653 gap statements mined from International Relations and Foreign Policy papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 8,414 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

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What the literature leaves open

  • Yet how these risks are assessed in China, and what role they play in shaping its global security agency, remains understudied.

    Managing Exposure: China’s Foreign Policy Adaptation to Overseas Conflict Risks · 2026 · DOI

  • By systematically comparing these four claimants, including the underexplored cases of Malaysia and Brunei, this study shows how structural and domestic factors interact to shape claimant states’ behaviour in asymmetric disputes and offers policy insights for major powers and ASEAN to anticipate likely state responses.

    Risk tolerance and domestic nationalism response demand: explaining South China Sea claimants’ responses to China (2010–2025) · 2026 · DOI

  • Since 2010, the South China Sea issue has attracted sustained scholarly attention, yet most work centres on China’s disputes with the Philippines and Vietnam, leaving Brunei and Malaysia comparatively understudied.

    Risk tolerance and domestic nationalism response demand: explaining South China Sea claimants’ responses to China (2010–2025) · 2026 · DOI

  • While this has sparked productive conversations between practice and IR scholars, shifting discussions from abstract theorizing to concrete empirical research, methodological clarity remains elusive.

    Doing Practice Research on Normativity: A Methodological Toolkit · 2026 · DOI

  • Numerous studies have documented the impact of religious motivations and concerns on international security, but the extent to which states can use religion as a tool in interstate crises remains underexplored.

    Religion as a Tool in Interstate Crises · 2026 · DOI

  • Drawing on a rich body of untapped primary sources, this article highlights the limits of the purported ‘no-limits’ Sino-Russian partnership in an important but underexplored area of research.

    To tolerate or to pressure: Beijing’s bifurcated strategy toward Russia’s role in China’s territorial disputes with India and Vietnam · 2025 · DOI

  • Why does China challenge global norms in climate governance while selectively accepting norms in peacebuilding governance? We argue that the focus on domestic factors in much existing literature is insufficient to explain this difference.

    Institutional factors in China’s norm contestation in global governance: international regime complexes of peacebuilding and climate change · 2025 · DOI

  • However, the unintended political consequences stemming from states’ positions within these GVCs have not been thoroughly explored.

    The indirect effects of structural power: Political diffusion in the global value chain network · 2025 · DOI

  • What has gone underexplored is whether leaders receive similar benefits for taking actions aimed at resolving conflicts, in particular negotiations with adversaries.

    Never fear to negotiate? Talks and rally effects · 2025 · DOI

  • It addresses a gap in the research, which has largely overlooked how treaty abrogations influence the subsequent behavior of victimized states.

    Learning from betrayal: How do lessons from the past shape future alliance treaty designs? · 2025 · DOI

  • Why do leaders of weaker states employ overt impoliteness in their highest-level engagements with dominant counterparts? Despite growing interest in impoliteness in international relations, little is known about its use by weaker states against stronger ones.

    The power of disrespect: Overt impoliteness and hierarchy in leader-level diplomacy · 2025 · DOI

  • Remarkably little is known about what factors drive success or failure in foreign policy.

    Success and failure in foreign policy: Comparing Bob Hawke and Kevin Rudd's regional order‐building initiatives · 2025 · DOI

  • The Miki Initiative, however, has not been fully explored and its position in post-war Japan’s regionalism has not been defined.

    Takeoff From 1950s-Style Asia-Pacific regionalism: The Miki Initiative Under the Indelible Shadow of Japan-U.S. Relations · 2025 · DOI

  • Although these trends have prompted research into the discourses and narratives of China and Japan, previous studies have not fully explored the competitive characteristics of the two states’ ideational visions.

    Examining China and Japan’s Narratives as Diplomatic Tools: Competitive Nature and International Influence · 2024 · DOI

  • Because existing scholarship has largely treated quantification and futurisation as discrete governing technologies, their intersections have remained undertheorised and underexplored.

    Governing global challenges through quantified futures · 2024 · DOI

  • Further research could explore the dynamics of the U.S.-China rivalry in specific regions, such as the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait. Research could also examine the role of other actors, such as Japan or the European Union, in shaping the U.S.-China relationship.

    Balancing Shadows · 2026 · DOI

  • The impact of climate change on the geopolitical order is not fully considered.

    Trump: Anomaly or Herald of a New Geopolitical Order? · 2026 · DOI

  • The need to develop a strategy to enhance European economic security.

    Dialogue instead of mutual neglect? International political economy meets foreign policy analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • This article argues that British handling of the Trump administrations has evidenced the under-recognised value of Britain’s monarchy in promoting the Anglo-American special relationship.

    Courting Trump: Anglo-American Relations and the House of Windsor · 2026 · DOI

  • Traditional British approaches of seeking close leadership relations and public American endorsement of special relations have delivered mixed results and carried abnormally high political risks.

    Courting Trump: Anglo-American Relations and the House of Windsor · 2026 · DOI

  • This study focuses on the evolution of the Chinese position on UNSC reform, a topic that has rarely been addressed in extant literature.

    The evolution of the Chinese position on UN Security Council reform: changes in power and normative strategies · 2025 · DOI

  • To explore the implications of the IPE-FPA research agenda for wider IR scholarship. To examine the effectiveness of the EU's economic security strategy in addressing emerging risks and vulnerabilities.

    Dialogue instead of mutual neglect? International political economy meets foreign policy analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • The essay concludes by posing open questions and proposing a research agenda for international relations scholars.

    War and peace in the age of AI · 2024 · DOI

  • The existential nature of the Chinese threat to Taiwan - The lack of a formal Taiwanese security agreement with the United States - Political polarization within Taiwan’s domestic…

    Responding to Chinese Pressure · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in the existing literature, which often frames the U.S.-China rivalry as an inevitable great-power conflict driven by ambition, ideology, or a looming 'Thucydidean Trap'. The paper argues that this perspective overlooks the role of structural insecurity and mutual misperception in driving the rivalry.

    Balancing Shadows · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in International Relations and Foreign Policy

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) Yet how these risks are assessed in China, and what role they play in shaping its global security agency, remains understudied (“Managing Exposure: China’s Foreign Policy Adaptation to Overseas Conflict Risks”, 2026); (2) While this has sparked productive conversations between practice and IR scholars, shifting discussions from abstract theorizing to concrete empirical research, methodological clarity remains elusive (“Doing Practice Research on Normativity: A Methodological Toolkit”, 2026); (3) Numerous studies have documented the impact of religious motivations and concerns on international security, but the extent to which states can use religion as a tool in interstate crises remains underexplored (“Religion as a Tool in Interstate Crises”, 2026); (4) Further research could explore the dynamics of the U.S.-China rivalry in specific regions, such as the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait (“Balancing Shadows”, 2026); (5) The unintended political consequences stemming from states’ positions within these GVCs have not been thoroughly explored (“The indirect effects of structural power: Political diffusion in the global…”, 2025). 653 gap statements have been mined from International Relations and Foreign Policy papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 8,414 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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