NUPI has sought to achieve this by undertaking a wide range of research activities and by disseminating information on international issues.
Although it was previously entirely funded over the state budget (later supplemented by a sizable share of outside project funding), NUPI's independence from Norwegian foreign policy is secured by its subordination to the Ministry of Education rather than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (distinguishing it from its counterparts in Sweden and many other countries).
The institute as such has never taken a policy stance on current issues, but has left this to the professional judgment of its individual researchers.
Several of its directors have been prominent Labour politicians, notably John Sanness, Johan Jørgen Holst and Jan Egeland.
Three of its other researchers, Anders C. Sjaastad, John Kristen Skogan and Janne Haaland Matlary, have been members of Conservative / center-right or centrist governments.