As part of the 'De-Blackboxing the Production of Expert Knowledge in Global Governance' project, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, Principal Investigator Annabelle Littoz-Monnet and Postdoctoral Researcher Juanita Uribe are convening a workshop entitled “The Politics of Governing through Methods” on October 30.

Methods have long been studied in IR and across disciplines primarily as tools for conducting research, producing knowledge, and navigating epistemological choices. Yet methods have become increasingly central to global governance itself. Across international organizations, expert committees, and global decision-making arenas, a growing caste of methods professionals and forms of methodological “know-how” have become central to the everyday work of IOs and other governing bodies.

The workshop brings together a group of interdisciplinary scholars to examine the growing role of methods and methodological expertise in global governance. It asks how methods shape the production and organization of knowledge, structure decision-making, and redistribute epistemic authority and professional hierarchies. More broadly, the workshop interrogates the political and governing effects of methodological “know-how” and what its growing prominence means for how problems are defined and governed.

"De-Blackboxing the Production of Expert Knowledge in Global Governance" website