Knowledge and Expertise in International Politics: A Handbook

This timely Handbook offers a comprehensive overview of current research on knowledge and expertise in international politics, helping students, scholars, and practitioners to navigate the growing literature in this field. Based on a shared understanding that knowledge and expertise matter in politics and that knowledge claims are a form of power warranting critical interrogation, its contributions take different theoretical starting points for exploring the complex relationship between knowledge and politics. They are organized into five perspectives, which highlight the role of actors, practices, contexts, structures, and relations in the (re)production, circulation, and contestation of knowledge, respectively. The book further contains two sections that gather central knowledge debates in the discipline of International Relations (IR) as well as cutting-edge avenues for future research. Cross-cutting themes include the ethics and politics of knowing, new technologies, and ways to democratize, decolonize, and pluralize politically relevant knowledge. By bringing insights from different (sub-)disciplines and policy fields together in one place, the Handbook consolidates the international politics of knowledge as a new, transdisciplinary paradigm in the discipline, providing numerous points of connections with debates around pressing global challenges. Thanks to its contributions’ original theoretical expositions and granular thematic case studies, it will be an invaluable companion to all those interested in adopting knowledge and expertise approaches in research, teaching, and policy work.