The Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) announce the relaunch of the Orbis Journal of World Affairs.

First published in 1957, Orbis was conceived as a forum for policymakers, scholars, and the informed public to publish scholarly articles focused on geopolitics, foreign affairs, and global security. The journal has featured work by notable authors such as Ian Brzezinski, Ash Carter, Elbridge Colby, William R. Van Cleave, Robert Kaplan, Albert Wohlstetter, and Dov Zakheim, and has been a critical resource for policymakers and professors for more than five decades.

Over half a century later, the FPRI-Nunn School collaboration will continue the mission of the journal’s first editor, Robert Strausz-Hupé. Hupé believed that the contours of global affairs would be shaped both by geopolitical competition and technological change. Orbis will continue to deliver informative and insightful articles and podcasts about foreign policy, national security, and geopolitics, with a particular focus on how emerging technologies are reshaping these fields.

Orbis will adopt an innovative new format that features both peer-reviewed scholarly research and contributions from policymakers and practitioners. The unique partnership between FPRI and the Nunn School, combining a blend of rigorous academic scholarship with timely policy insight, promises to explore the most pressing issues in international affairs from multiple perspectives.

All future Orbis articles and archives will be available for all readers on a new website. The journal will continue to be published in a digital quarterly format, with the articles published online as soon as they have been edited and cleared for publication. The website will also feature a bimonthly podcast series, and both FPRI and the Nunn School will host thematic virtual and in-person events.

The editorial team will be headed by Nikolas Gvosdev, senior fellow at FPRI and the Captain Jerome E. Levy Chair in Economic Geography and National Security at the U.S. Naval War College, and Lawrence Rubin, co-director of the Georgia Tech DC Program: Pathways to Policy and an associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs.

“I am delighted that FPRI and the Nunn School will join together in this partnership for a relaunch of Orbis, and to renew Strauz-Hupé’s mandate for a journal that ‘will curate the most insightful articles that examine the issues that affect global security.’ The 2021 special issue of Orbis dedicated to ‘Emerging Technology and National Security’ which Larry served as guest editor — which was one of the most widely-read and cited issues of the journal in recent years — shows the potential of this partnership for the future of Orbis,” said Gvosdev.

“We are thrilled that after years of planning we will see these important efforts come to fruition. This partnership is about our commitment to demonstrating that both policy and academic partnership can be mutually beneficial,” added Rubin. 

“Orbis has been at the forefront of geopolitical debate and discussion since 1957. I can’t wait to take it from behind a paywall and to make it available to all our readers. And to really focus on bridging the divide between academia and policy,” said Aaron Stein, president of FPRI. 

Adam N. Stulberg, Sam Nunn School Chair and professor, echoed the excitement surrounding this new partnership.

“It marks a concerted effort not only at bridging gaps but at keeping pace with today’s rapidly changing international landscape. With the rejuvenated Orbis and accessible online formats, we aim to establish an uncommon dynamic forum where scholars, technical experts, and practitioners can engage different perspectives and distill insight into underlying drivers and strategic implications presented by emerging technologies and other contemporary problem-sets that confront U.S. national and international security.”

The Orbis Journal of World Affairs is set to relaunch in Spring 2026. To be the first to know about new content, be sure to subscribe to FPRI’s mailing list.

About the Foreign Policy Research Institute

The Foreign Policy Research Institute is a nonpartisan Philadelphia-based think tank dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the United States. FPRI educates those who make and influence policy, as well as the public at large, through the lens of history, geography, and culture. For more information, visit fpri.org.

About the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs

Founded in 1990, the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology is dedicated to educating the next generation of scholars and practitioners on diverse approaches to tackling real-world problems to advance the global human condition. As one of the first professional schools of international affairs situated at major technological institute, we provide comprehensive, interdisciplinary, multi-method, and flexible undergraduate and graduate social science programming at the nexus of science and technology, with special attention to strategic, political economy, and comparative political perspectives on international security, global development, and governance.

A version of this story first appeared on the FPRI website.