Ensuring peace and development faces new challenges in view of the erosion of the international liberal order. The INEF research agenda is based on the assumption that focusing on stabilising a multipolar balance of power is neither analytically nor politically sufficient for peacemaking and global development.

With the INEF research programme for the years 2026 to 2029, entitled "Enabling political spaces in a multiplex world", we want to emphasise that – despite the media's focus on the actions of state leaders – global dynamics continue to be shaped by a multitude of politically, ideologically and culturally diverse actors, institutions and practices, and should be empirically studied in all their diversity.

The concept of a multiplex world does not negate the existence of global power imbalances and hierarchies. We are taking up this concept in the INEF research programme because, in the changing order, creating global public goods cooperatively and solving shared problems constructively at the interface between development and peace remain central and continue to be decisively influenced by the ability of numerous state and non-state actors to interact – as can be seen, for example, in their ability to conclude agreements. Deliberately reversing the oft-cited "shrinking spaces," the programme focuses on "enabling spaces" in which negotiation processes and shaping joint political actions can unfold at various levels.

The research programme is being implemented in INEF’s three research areas:

I. Global governance for sustainable development,

II. Human rights and regulation of the global economy, and

III. Conflict dynamics and practices of securing peace.