Axel Nordenstam Forskare

Axel Nordenstam, PhD, successfully defended his PhD dissertation titled India's Green Status Dilemma - A Practice Approach in April, 2026, at the Department of Economic History and International Relations. During his doctoral education, he was affiliated with the Stockholm Center on Global Governance and a member of the Stockholm University Graduate School of International Studies. His research interests include EU-India relations, status considerations in diplomatic practice, Indian foreign and climate diplomacy, and great power politics.

He has been a Visiting Fellow with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) in New Delhi. He was a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations' (ECFR) Strategy Group on the Indo-Pacific. Previously, he has worked at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI) as an Analyst, and as an Intern at the Swedish Embassy in New Delhi and Human Rights Watch in New York. Axel has also served as President for the Swedish Association of International Affairs and on the Executive Committee of the International Association for Political Science Students (IAPSS).

His pieces have been published by the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Center for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP, former Brookings India), Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Springer, the EU Delegation in New Delhi, Economic Times, 9Dashline, Folk och Försvar, Utrikesmagasinet.

Axel holds a PhD in International Relations (Stockholm University, 2026), a MA (with distinction) in Contemporary European Studies, the so-called Euromasters MA-degree, following studies at the University of Bath, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, and Freie Universität Berlin. He also holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Gothenburg, during which he was an Erasmus student at the University of Vienna.