Scientific Research as Geopolitical Practice: Innovation, Diplomacy, Subversion

This article examines scientific research as a geopolitical practice. Drawing from IR literature on innovation in geopolitics, scholarship on science diplomacy and hybrid warfare theory, the article suggests that scientific research is best understood as a practice that simultaneously aims at furthering the national interest and at tackling global challenges through diplomatic means. Crucially, moreover, it also contends that uncertainty over which of these aims is primary is what affords scientific research its geopolitical edge. To explore this theoretical proposition, the article analyses the content of Chinese and Russian research in and on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard from 2020–2024, an area where scientific research is an important site for contemporary geopolitical competition. Findings demonstrate how scientific research operates in several geopolitical registers at once.