SWP is an independent scientific institute that conducts policy-oriented research on the basis of which it then advises the German Parliament (the Bundestag) and the federal government on foreign and security policy issues. The analyses and publications produced by SWP researchers and their participation in national and international debates on key issues help to shape positions in their respective domains. SWP's primary goals are to translate scientific knowledge to the needs of policymakers and to undertake original scientific research. The latter is often more applied than basic, even though contributions to the body of theory in international relations have been, and will be made. In order to be successful, the institute has to fulfil a double function; to respond to the needs and interests of policymakers and to stay involved in the global high-level discourse on international relations with other academics, think tankers and practitioners.

SWP is different in several ways from other federally financed scientific agencies in Germany, especially those that work for or mainly with one particular ministry and which have an official advisory or even operative function regulated by law. Different from many other policy fields, advice in the foreign policy realm is not so much sought for the formulation of legal texts or the evaluation of procedures and proposals, as rather for background information and interpretation, for strategy discussions and for exchanges with foreign actors, often in second-track formats.