Research Themes

Current Research

Coming soon

Past Research

From 2022 to 2024, the Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs advanced policy-relevant research related to the Indo-Pacific region over the past two years with a particular focus on three overarching themes: emerging security challenges, regional responses to strategic competition, and the governance of the global commons. Each of these themes has been operationalized in the form of more specific projects that have resulted in conferences, dialogues, publications, and other outputs.

Emerging Security Challenges

Our research has examined how traditional security challenges have been intertwined with non-traditional security challenges related to economics, technology, climate change, health, and other issues, impacting regional stability and prosperity. The interconnections among these issues and with domestic political and social conditions play a powerful role in the Indo-Pacific, and understanding them require an interdisciplinary approach informed by deep area knowledge.

Undersea Cables, Geoeconomics, and Security in the Indo-Pacific: Risks and Resilience

Submerged deep beneath the ocean, networks of undersea cables form the critical infrastructure that enables the communication and connectivity upon which societies are built. Over 95 percent of global Internet traffic relies on roughly 450 undersea cables for high-volume, high-speed transmission of information, and they transmit approximately $10 trillion in financial transactions data throughout the global economy on a daily basis. The Indo-Pacific has been the most active site of undersea cable construction for over a decade, and these undersea cables have become intertwined in emerging regional strategic technology competition, sparking fears about how they might be threatened by sabotage, manipulation, economic coercion, natural disasters, or physical attacks.

To better understand the political, economic, and security dynamics surrounding this critical infrastructure, the Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs conducted a year-long research project with experts from the US, the Indo-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. After an in-person private workshop in Honolulu in October 2023, participants disseminated their findings through a series of policy briefs in CIPA’s new Indo-Pacific Outlook publication series, and an additional set of academic articles will be featured in a forthcoming special issue of the journal Marine Policy. Several participants also spoke at a public webinar on “Geopolitics and Undersea Cables in the Indo-Pacific” in May 2024, which received international media coverage. This project was made possible by a generous grant from the Japan Foundation in partnership with Keio University and Khalifa University.

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Regional Responses to Strategic Competition

The Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs examines the complex dynamics of US-China competition in the Indo-Pacific and how regional actors are crafting their own policies in response.

The Future of Security and Economic Competition in the Indo-Pacific

International security and political economy have become increasingly commingled—and in no region more than the Indo-Pacific. While the policy debate rages on concerning how coupled or decoupled Washington and Beijing are or should be, the security and economic context in the Indo-Pacific continues to shift, driven by government policy, military spending, and private sector investment. Engaging with this reality, the Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs, the Berkeley APEC Study Center, and the Berkeley Risk and Security Lab convened a workshop in Honolulu, Hawaii on December 14–15, 2023.

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Governance of the Global Commons

The global commons—domains beyond the sovereign jurisdiction of any single state—are essential to the stability and prosperity of the international order, providing public goods and common goods such as trade routes, transportation and communication networks, fish stocks, satellite imagery, global positioning, and e-commerce infrastructure that benefit countries around the world. However, these domains have become increasingly congested, contested, and competitive over time. Our research has analyzed the evolving rules-based international order and how state and non-state actors are shaping the governance of the maritime, outer space, and cyber domains.

The Pluralization of Outer Space and Implications for Governance

This project examined established and emerging space actors in the Indo-Pacific region who are influencing strategic dynamics in this rapidly evolving domain. CIPA coorganized two webinars as official side events of  the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum and an in-person symposium on space issues convened at the University of Washington, Seattle. Some related research findings were published as part of CIPA’s Indo-Pacific Outlook series.

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Avoiding and Exploiting the Tragedy of the Commons in the Maritime Domain

This project examined how political, economic, and security drivers have led to a fishing crisis in the South China Sea and how states have responded to try to solve this problem, and, in some cases, to exploit it. Findings were published by CIPA Director Govella in the journal International Politics.

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Project: Emerging Threats to Cybersecurity and the Potential for Cooperation

This project examined the evolution of institutions, rules, and norms for cyber governance with specific attention to the roles of actors in the Indo-Pacific region. Closed-door roundtable discussions were held on this topic to serve as the foundation for potential future research collaboration.

The Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs welcomes collaboration with colleagues at UH Mānoa and across the University of Hawai‘i system, as well as with external partners. If you are interested in collaborating with the Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs on a research project, contact cipa@hawaii.edu.

In addition to research specifically being done through the Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs, many experts across the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa are individually engaged in research relevant to the Indo-Pacific region, many of whom are affiliated with the UH Mānoa School of Pacific and Asian Studies.