Sverrir's research explores the macro-structures underlying contemporary and historical world politics. He has several primary lines of research. First, he is interested in how digital technology is creating new institutional forms, empowering new actors, and establishing new venues of conflict and cooperation. His research on this topic is forthcoming in American Political Science Review. Second, he explores how war transforms politics and society, with a particular focus on state formation and empires. One paper in this vein recently appeared in International Organization. Third, he is interested in small states in world politics, with a particular focus on asymmetric conflicts. He has published on this in Cooperation and Conflict, Foreign Policy Analysis, European Security, and Scandinavian Journal of History.