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Best Student Essays
From Bilateralism to Minilateralism: The India-France strategic partnership as a model for regional diplomacy
June 2025 by Arokya Nicol
The essay by Arokya Nicol argues that since 2017, the India–France strategic partnership—built on three pillars (defense co-development, Indo-Pacific/maritime security, and civil nuclear cooperation) and a shared commitment to strategic autonomy—has become a springboard for “minilateral” formats such as the India–France–Australia and India–France–UAE trilaterals, giving New Delhi a more flexible diplomacy to shape the Indo-Pacific without aligning with any single bloc. It also highlights the model’s limits: constant trade-offs between autonomy and alignment, partners’ sometimes divergent priorities (especially regarding China and Russia), and the risk of sidelining India within multilateral institutions where it also seeks structural reforms.
South Korea Navigating the Indo-Pacific: Explaining the Strategy Shift from Moon Jae-in’s New Southern Policy to Yoon Suk-yeol’s Strategy for a Free, Peaceful, and Prosperous Indo-Pacific Region
June 2025 by Anna Aiko Birrer
This student essay by Anna Birrer examines how South Korea’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific is shaped by the pull of the U.S. alliance and the weight of economic ties with China. Under Moon Jae-in, Seoul pursued the New Southern Policy to hedge—deepening links with ASEAN/India while avoiding FOIP language—whereas under Yoon Suk-yeol it adopted an Indo-Pacific strategy aligned more closely with the U.S. and Japan on security, minilateralism, and rules-based order, without fully decoupling from China. The essay concludes that, despite political uncertainty after Yoon’s impeachment, the Indo-Pacific framing will likely persist, with future governments mainly adjusting how tightly South Korea aligns with U.S.-led initiatives.
Great Power Rivalry and Pacific Agency: Navigating
Geopolitical Competition in the Blue Pacific
May 2025 by Maéline Crépin
This student essay by Maéline Crépin analyzes how intensifying great-power rivalry in the Pacific Islands—driven by China’s expanding aid, soft power, and security outreach (including pressure on Taiwan and the Solomon Islands pact)—has prompted counter-moves from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, France and others via new strategies, funding, and defense cooperation.
At the same time, Pacific Island governments assert agency through the “Blue Pacific” narrative and the 2050 Strategy, leveraging competition for aid while trying to refocus agendas on climate, sovereignty, and development—though this “friends to all” approach risks overextension, debt burdens, and uneven influence over China’s narratives.
The piece concludes that while Western adoption of Blue Pacific language shows some traction, the depth of Sino-Western rivalry in Oceania remains contested, with scholars noting limited evidence that Beijing prioritizes the region above broader strategic theaters.
France’s arms exports to the Indo-Pacific: a means to advance its regional strategic autonomy?
June 2025 by Célia Vanwalleghem, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This PSIA student essay argues that France uses arms exports in the Indo-Pacific as a tool of strategic autonomy, leveraging its resident-power status and defense industrial base to pursue a “third way” between the U.S. and China.
Through marquee deals—Rafale jets and Scorpène submarines with India, and growing sales plus exercises with Indonesia—Paris seeks long-term partnerships that embed training, maintenance, and shared operations, reinforcing a rules-based, multipolar order.
But U.S. dominance (and AUKUS), plus the rapid rise of regional producers like South Korea, constrain France’s leverage; the author concludes Paris must complement arms sales with broader cooperation (e.g., climate and regional initiatives) to sustain influence and autonomy.
Taiwan’s Energy Supply Strategy: A Matter of National
Security, Economic Competitiveness and Energy Transition
June 2025 by Clément Violot, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This PSIA student essay argues that Taiwan’s energy strategy sits at the nexus of national security, economic competitiveness, and decarbonization: the island imports ~97% of its energy, leaving LNG/oil/coal terminals and sea-lanes highly vulnerable to a PRC blockade and precision strikes.
It shows how Taiwan’s high-tech economy—especially TSMC’s soaring electricity demand—rests on artificially low power prices sustained by financially strained Taipower, while the energy transition plan (more LNG and renewables, nuclear phase-out) struggles with grid reliability, cost volatility, and security risks (e.g., exposed western-coast infrastructure and subsea cables).
The essay concludes that current policies—particularly the 2025 nuclear exit—may undermine all three goals; to weather a blockade and keep industry competitive while cutting emissions, Taiwan must rethink its supply resilience, reserve levels, fuel mix, and grid investments.
The French Indo-Pacific Strategy: A Top-Down Imposition from Paris or a Concerted Approach with Overseas Territories?
June 2025 by Emma Biber, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This PSIA student essay argues that France’s Indo-Pacific strategy relies on its overseas territories for legitimacy and basing—but is often perceived locally as Paris-driven, misaligned with island priorities, and competing with attractive Chinese “win-win” offers (BRI, investment).
It details how New Caledonia, French Polynesia, La Réunion, etc., are strategic assets (EEZ, forces, regional forums) yet voice identity, sovereignty, and development concerns that a great-power lens can miss.
The conclusion calls for genuine co-construction: empower territorial authorities, align narratives with “Oceanian/Moana” perspectives, and broaden beyond the military to climate, science, and sustainable development partnerships.
Pyongyang’s Asymmetric Cyberwarfare Strategy and its Implications for the Indo-Pacific
June 2025 by Gianluca Amato, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This essay written by PSIA Sciences Po student, Gianluca Amato, examines how North Korea’s asymmetric cyberwarfare strategy functions as a strategic equalizer and how it is reshaping cybersecurity cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. It concludes that Pyongyang’s state-directed cyber operations—spanning disruptive attacks, financial heists to fund WMD programs, and espionage—generate outsized strategic effects at low cost and have catalyzed deeper U.S.–ROK, U.S.–Japan–ROK, and Quad initiatives on standards, information-sharing, and joint exercises. It also suggests that regional stability will increasingly depend on hardening critical infrastructure, real-time intel and crypto-tracing cooperation, calibrated offensive cyber options, and potentially greater South Korean integration with Quad efforts.
Situating the North Korean Nuclear Issue within the Indo-Pacific Context
June 2025 by Hyojung Kim, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
The shift from “Asia-Pacific” to “Indo-Pacific” reframes North Korea’s nuclear issue amid intensifying U.S.–China rivalry, lowering incentives for cooperation and pushing denuclearization down the agenda. Washington is realigning the U.S.–ROK alliance to prioritize China (including potential USFK roles beyond the peninsula), while Beijing increasingly sees Pyongyang’s arsenal as a useful counterweight to U.S. power. South Korea faces a sharper dilemma—deeper integration with U.S.-led Indo-Pacific deterrence (risking Chinese backlash) versus strategic ambiguity—especially under scenarios of linked crises in Taiwan and on the peninsula. North Korea, for its part, is bandwagoning on a “neo–Cold War” landscape, treating its nuclear program less as a bargaining chip and more as a durable tool to shape regional power balances, making a diplomatic path forward harder but still tied to managing cross-theater escalation and nudging China’s calculus.
Vietnam’s Indo-Pacific Strategy in search of a complex diplomatic balance between major superpower
June 2025 by Héloïse Oury, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This essay written by PSIA Sciences Po student, Héloïse Oury, examines how Vietnam’s Indo-Pacific strategy balances deep economic and ideological ties with China against rising maritime frictions by doubling down on non-alignment (“Four No’s”), ASEAN-centered multilateralism, and a hedging policy built on proliferating Comprehensive Strategic Partnerships—especially with the United States and India. It concludes that Hanoi’s “bamboo diplomacy” lets it deter coercion and diversify security and economic partners without formal alignment, while warning that persistent South China Sea tensions, structural dependence on Chinese trade, and external shocks (e.g., U.S. tariff swings) could strain this calibrated neutrality.
France’s Development Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific: Leveraging Overseas Territories for Regional Influence and Collaboration
June 2025 by Kim Beauvais, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This essay written by PSIA Sciences Po student, Kim Beauvais, examines whether France can leverage its overseas territories to exert distinctive influence in the Indo-Pacific through development cooperation—a “smart power” blend of hard (defense presence) and soft (aid, climate, and maritime projects). It argues that these territories anchor France’s legitimacy and enable practical cooperation on climate resilience, biodiversity, and maritime domain awareness, positioning Paris as a connector between Europe and regional forums (IOC, IORA, PIF) and a complementary partner to the Quad and ASEAN. It concludes that France can indeed cultivate a differentiated, durable influence if it territorializes its approach (tailored to diverse legal statuses and local politics), addresses decolonization sensitivities and sovereignty disputes (e.g., Mayotte, Îles Éparses), and doubles down on high-impact, locally owned initiatives—especially environmental resilience and ocean governance—so development cooperation reinforces, rather than is eclipsed by, the defense pillar.
To what extent does the South Korean Indo-Pacific strategy represent a significant shift in foreign policy from the previous “New Southern Policy” ?
June 2025 by Maëlle Delamare, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This essay written by PSIA Sciences Po student, Maëlle Delamare, examines whether South Korea’s Indo-Pacific Strategy (SFPPIP) marks a substantive break from Moon Jae-in’s New Southern Policy. It finds that Yoon Suk-yeol’s strategy signals strategic clarity—tighter alignment with the U.S., deeper trilateralism with the U.S. and Japan, and a bid to act as a “global pivotal state”—but that core continuities endure: heavy economic dependence on China, a persistent DPRK-first focus, and limited hard-security follow-through with ASEAN. The essay concludes that the shift is more tonal than transformative, with implementation constrained by domestic political instability and uncertainty from U.S. policy under Trump II; the durability of any change will hinge on Seoul’s internal politics and U.S.–ROK dynamics.
Semiconductors and the Indo-Pacific: U.S.-China Competition and the Role of Allies
June 2025 by Manasi Pendharkar, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This essay, written by PSIA Sciences Po student Manasi Pendharkar, examines how semiconductors have become instruments of power in U.S.–China competition and why the Indo-Pacific sits at the center of this contest. It argues that Washington’s edge in chip design and tools—reinforced by export controls and the CHIPS Act—aims to constrain China’s advance, while Beijing pursues workarounds and selective indigenization. The paper finds that allied coordination (CHIP-4, IPEF, Quad) is both essential and uneven; enforcement gaps and mismatched partner controls blunt U.S. objectives. It concludes that full “reshoring” is unrealistic: effective friendshoring across trusted Indo-Pacific partners—especially Japan and India—offers the most viable path to resilient supply chains and sustained technological leadership.
Towards Indo-Indonesian Partnership? A Comparative
Study of Grand Strategies
June 2025 by Maksymilian Skrzypczak, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This essay, written by PSIA Sciences Po student Maksymilian Skrzypczak, compares India’s and Indonesia’s grand strategies to assess the prospects for a deeper bilateral partnership in the Indo-Pacific. It argues that both countries share core premises—strategic autonomy, support for a multipolar, rules-based order, and openness to ASEAN-centric multilateralism—creating natural alignment in diplomacy, maritime domain awareness, and selective economic cooperation. Yet it highlights key constraints: India’s sharper hard-security focus on China/Pakistan versus Indonesia’s conflict-averse stance, possible friction over Indian Ocean leadership, and each side’s reluctance to enter binding security commitments. The paper concludes that an Indo-Indonesian partnership is promising but bounded—strongest in multilateral coordination and maritime cooperation short of alliance politics—with its eventual depth contingent on the trajectory of China–India tensions and sustained political restraint on both sides.
Tracing the Indian Strategic Culture of the Indo-Pacific: Revisiting the Intellectual History of
Maritime Consciousness
June 2025 by Naomi Kurian, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This essay, written by PSIA Sciences Po student Naomi Kurian, argues that India’s Indo-Pacific outlook is not an imported, U.S.-driven construct but a historically rooted strand of Indian strategic culture. Mobilizing the concept of strategic culture, it traces the idea’s intellectual evolution from Haushofer to Abe and recovers K.M. Panikkar’s mid-20th-century maritime thought—Indian Ocean centrality, anticipation of Chinese and U.S. roles, and a proposed “Council of the Indian Ocean”—as a precursor to today’s Indo-Pacific framing. It challenges scholarship that portrays India as a late adopter, showing instead how official doctrine is complemented by ‘subcultures’ such as Project Mausam, which advance an inclusive, plural, and culturally grounded approach alongside (but distinct from) U.S.-led security architectures. The essay concludes that India’s Indo-Pacific vision is co-produced and durable—combining legacy and innovation to position India as a shaper of regional order rather than a mere respondent to great-power rivalry.
South Korea-India Rapprochement in the Indo-Pacific: Opportunities, Challenges, and the China Factor
June 2025 by Salomé Pasquet, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This essay by PSIA student Salomé Pasquet argues that India and South Korea share an inclusive, rules-based Indo-Pacific vision and are edging closer via defense ties and economic complementarity to offer a “third way” amid U.S–China rivalry. Yet the partnership underperforms—due to inconsistent political will, divergent threat priorities, and stalled CEPA/FDI—so realizing its potential requires institutionalized high-level dialogues, a CEPA upgrade, scaled co-production/infrastructure, and steadier alignment despite Seoul’s domestic swings.
An Examination of France’s Utilization of the EU in the Indo-Pacific: Using the EU on Climate Diplomacy with China but acting outside the EU on defence issues
June 2025 by Sapna Suresh, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This essay, written by PSIA Sciences Po student Sapna Suresh, examines how France leverages the EU in the Indo-Pacific—using Brussels’ market power and financing to advance climate diplomacy with China while acting largely outside the EU on security and defense. It concludes that EU legal limits and capability gaps make it ill-suited for hard security, pushing Paris toward autonomous military partnerships (notably with India and Southeast Asia), whereas the EU remains the preferred vehicle for economic and green initiatives. It also suggests that uncertainty under “Trump II” accentuates this split but ultimately points to a complementary division of labor: Brussels as economic/climate lever and Paris as the principal security actor.
Cyber Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific: The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’s Evolving Framework for Cybersecurity
June 2025 by Saee Kaustubh Vaidya, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This essay, written by PSIA Sciences Po student Saee Kaustubh Vaidya, examines how the Quad (US, Japan, Australia, India) has expanded from maritime cooperation to an evolving cyber framework to counter rising threats—especially China-linked APTs targeting critical infrastructure, supply chains, and maritime systems. It finds that joint efforts—Quad Cybersecurity Partnership, Senior Cyber Group, and Joint Principles for Secure Software—plus public-private coordination and capacity-building, are central to resilience. Yet it concludes the agenda remains too defensive, hampered by attribution hurdles, uneven national policies, and credibility/coordination gaps; moving toward proactive deterrence, tighter regulatory alignment, and wider regional uptake is essential for stronger collective cyber defense.
Reordering the Indo-Pacific: Geoeconomics, Security,
and Intersectional Governance in a Fragmented World
June 2025 by Victoria Marquez, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This essay, written by PSIA Sciences Po student Victoria Márquez, argues that China plays a dual role—both an engine of economic integration and a source of systemic disruption—making the Indo-Pacific the arena where interdependence collides with strategic distrust. It finds that geoeconomics (BRI finance, supply chains, “soft decoupling”) and security reactions (the U.S. networked alliance approach, Europe’s normative but limited posture, regional hedging) are tightly coupled, with Taiwan as the pivotal vulnerability. It concludes by advocating intersectional, multilevel governance guided by Yan Xuetong’s “moral realism”, arguing for calibrated, issue-specific cooperation that balances power with responsibility—rather than binary containment or unconditional engagement.
The Paradox of Peace Advocacy and Arms Trade: How could the European Union contribute to peace and stability in the South China Sea
June 2023 by Yuki Kurihara, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This essay by PSIA Student, Yuki Kurihara explores the significant growth in defense budgets and arms trades Southeast Asian countries have witnessed, largely influenced by China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea. While defense budgets and arms imports have increased across the region, variations exist in the security policies and procurement strategies of different nations. European arms suppliers, despite advocating peaceful resolutions, have played a significant role in enhancing Southeast Asian naval capabilities, raising concerns about the EU’s involvement in regional militarization. A comprehensive legal framework and strategic policies are needed for the EU to ensure responsible arms trade and maintain regional security.
Taiwan’s Indo-Pacific strategy: Innovating Under Constraint
June 2023 by Noé Baudouin, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This PSIA student essay explores how Taiwan’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific is heavily influenced by the US and China. The US has been Taiwan’s historical protector, providing security guarantees and support, while China poses a significant threat, claiming Taiwan as part of its territory. Taiwan’s strategy involves balancing its reliance on the US for security and international recognition with the challenges posed by China’s pressure and influence.
ASEAN as a normative entrepreneur: The Circulation of ASEAN’s Outlook on the Indo- Pacific
June 2023 by Sarah Mores, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This PSIA student essay evaluates ASEAN’s normative power in the Asia Pacific region through the lens of the Indo-Pacific concept. It argues that the adoption of an ASEAN Outlook on the Indo Pacific reflects norm localization rather than the struggle between the US and China. By reframing the Indo-Pacific, ASEAN has the opportunity to break away from the narrative of « failed regionalism » and gain more agency in international relations. However, ASEAN needs to take proactive steps and develop necessary infrastructure to fully realize this potential.
China and the Rules-Based International Order: Challenges and Compliance
June 2023 by Summer Sheridan, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This essay written by PSIA Sciences Po Student, Summer Sheridan examines whether China’s actions in the South China Sea have challenged the rules-based international order (RBIO). It concludes that while China has attempted to change certain aspects of the order, it has not fundamentally challenged the power distribution, institutional arrangements, or norms diffusion. It also suggests that China’s desire for change does not equate to a challenge to the RBIO as a whole, and it benefits from the existing order.
New Realities in the Pacific Islands: Is Australia Meeting its Potential?
June 2023 by Niamh Fitzgerald, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This essay by PSIA student, Niamh Fitzgerald highlights the importance of operating within a multilateral setting and forming relationships with Pacific Island nations for a stable and less competitive environment. It suggests that New Zealand, Japan, France, and even China could be potential partners for Australia. The essay emphasizes the need for Australia to prioritize climate change commitments to secure its interests and remain competitive in the South Pacific region while promoting regional development and engagement.
The Difficulties and Possibilities of China’s Pulling Taiwan Together in the Context of Great Power Competition: What is China’s Better Alternative to Unifying Taiwan by Force?
June 2023 by Hainan Zhou, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This essay by PSIA student, Hainan Zhou proposes a strategy that begins with using economic disadvantages to gradually increase Beijing’s influence on Taiwanese society while maintaining the existing diplomatic siege on Taiwan. The approach aims to create economic dependence, prompting Taiwan to passively move closer to mainland China and allowing for increased meddling in its affairs. However, careful consideration is necessary regarding the timing, means, and utilization of this economic intervention for cross-strait negotiations.
China’s Eurasian Strategy
June 2023 by Marcello Galuzzo, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This PSIA student essay explores whether the Shanghai Cooperation Organization could be the response to an American Indo-Pacific.
Hedging Between Two Seas?
June 2023 by Camille Ibos, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This PSIA student essay explores how New Zealand has embraced the Indo-Pacific concept and prioritized independence, inclusiveness, and diversification in its foreign policy as well as how it seeks to safeguard a stable Indo-Pacific through trade centrality, a rules-based order, and its anti-nuclear stance. As geo-strategic tensions increase, New Zealand may explore cooperation with Quad and AUKUS members, seek new markets for trade diversification, and foster relationships with ASEAN and India for future opportunities.
Intellectual Property in the Indo-Pacific
June 2023 by Auriane Mattera, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This PSIA student essay written by Auriane Mattera examines the multipolarity that the Indo-Pacific is experiencing in patent production, driven by the shift to knowledge economies. Private companies, rather than governments, are leading the competitive struggle, while government funding for R&D has declined. Geopolitical risks and the securitization of private companies may reshape IP competition in the Indo-Pacific, necessitating research on governmental proxy usage of private companies for future IP strategies.
To what extent is the Indo-Pacific the battleground of a new Cold War between the United States and China?
June 2023 by Victoire Reboul, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
In this PSIA student essay, Victoire Reboul argues that the idea of a « new Cold War » between the US and China in the Indo-Pacific is misguided due to factors such as high interdependence and the adoption of a two-track foreign policy by most states in the region. Hence, framing the rivalry as a Cold War would be a strategic mistake. The Indo-Pacific is moving towards a model of dynamic bipolarity rather than a return to the Cold War era.
Japan’s Indo-Pacific Strategy in Cyberspace
June 2023 by Piotr Malachinski, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
In this essay PSIA Student, Piotr Malachinski the explores the significant cyber security threats that the Indo-Pacific region faces as it becomes a hub for IT development, increasing the risk of cyber-crime and competition. China is seen as capitalizing on this environment to further its information control and secure access to state secrets. Japan’s cyber-conscious approach and diplomatic efforts show promise, but policy changes and better resource allocation may be needed for effective implementation of the Indo-Pacific cyber strategy.
Is the Singaporean model of foreign relations a tenable model for smaller nations in the Indo-Pacific?
September 2022 by Shravan Krishnan Sharma, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This PSIA student essay written by Shravan Krishnan Sharma examines Singapore’s foreign policy model and if it can be a viable template for other smaller nations in the Indo-Pacific.
To What Extent will AUKUS Reshape France’s Strategic Partnerships in the Indo-Pacific?
May 2022 by Louis Hobbs Martin, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
Louis Hobbs Martin analyses the impact of exclusion of France from the strategic alliance of AUKUS and its implications for the partnerships in the Indo-Pacific.
South Korea’s New Southern Policy: An Indo-Pacific strategy in disguise
May 2022 by Florence Wabinski, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
In this essay, Florence Wabinski analyses South Korea’s attempt to develop an Indo-Pacific strategy under the guise of the New Southern Policy (Plus) framework.
South Korea’s middle power security ambition: strategic autonomy
May 2022 by Claire (Hyun seung) Jeon, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This PSIA student essay written by Claire (Hyun seung) Jeon outlines South Korea’s security ambition for strategic autonomy in the Indo-Pacific region.
Smaller states’ multidimensional approach to the Indo-Pacific
May 2022 by Samira Grotto, PSIA, Sciences Po
In this PSIA student essay written by Samira Grotto examines the current Indo-Pacific geopolitical framework: the rise of China, big power dynamics and implications for smaller and middle powers.
How is the Indo-Pacific putting India and China into a power competition relation, and how is India trying to resist China?
May 2022 by Susane Radjaradjane, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
In this essay Susane Radjaradjane analyses the balance of power in the theatre of the Indo-Pacific and she also outlines the India’s policies and strategic alliances in order to resist China.
Reaching strategic autonomy in the naval industry: A challenge for India in the context of its strategy for the Indo-Pacific
May 2022 by Marie Desbonnets, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
This PSIA student essay written by Marie Desbonnets analyses the evolution of the Indian Naval Industry and its quest of strategic autonomy in the theatre of the Indo-Pacific.
Japan’s quest for energy security in the ‘new’ world of geopolitics
May 2022 by Tanvi Riise, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
Tanvi Riise analyses Japan’s quest for energy security in light of a global energy crisis and ever changing geopolitical scenario.
Continuity and Change in Joe Biden’s Indo-Pacific Strategy
May 2022 by Brynn Hansen, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
In this essay, Brynn Hansen examines President Biden’s Indo-Pacific Strategy by analysing the similarities and differences to his predecessor’s strategic proposals.
The Geotechnological Competition Between USA and China as a Catalyst of the Indo-Pacific Security
May 2022 by Sterenn Briand, PSIA – Sciences Po Paris
In this essay, Sterenn Briand examines the possibility of geopolitical competition between USA and China and the implications on security in the Indo-Pacific region.
