"Geopolitics and Expertise is an in-depth exploration of how expert knowledge is created and exercised in the external relations machinery of the European Union. Provides a rare, full-length work on transnational diplomatic practice Based on a rigorous and empirical study, involving over 100 interviews with policy professionals over seven years Focuses on the qualitative and contextual, rather than the quantitative and uniform Moves beyond traditional political science to blend human geography, international relations, anthropology, and sociology "--
AbstractThis essay addresses a relatively neglected practical aspect of critical policy studies: the pressure to produce many research outputs. That pressure emanates in part from the fast‐paced policy world studied by the researcher, and in part (perhaps even more significantly) from the university environment of the researcher herself. The essay highlights how the tendency towards output‐driven or fast research operates and what analytical traps it engenders. My goal is to spell out, more explicitly than is commonly done, why the push toward fast research is problematic on analytical grounds and why it ought to be resisted on these same grounds. I call for slow research to underscore that context‐sensitive critical investigation of a social field, such as policy, is a necessarily slow process.
This paper investigates the workings of symbolic power in diplomatic practice. At the level of empirical observation, it focuses on the intangible and incalculable 'feel for the game' that distinguishes a well-informed and relaxed insider from an ill-informed and ill-at-ease outsider in European Union (EU) diplomatic circles in Brussels. By highlighting the play of social resources, such as reputation, presence, poise, and composure in these circles, I examine EU diplomacy from an angle – symbolic power – that is often overlooked in the existing work on that field. Conceptually, the analysis focuses on the role of informal social resources rather than formal institutional structures in diplomatic practice. It also outlines the potential synergies between the study of diplomacy in international relations (IR) on the one hand and geography, anthropology, and sociology on the other. The paper thereby advances the analytical toolbox of diplomatic studies and practice theory. Such conceptual sharpening is needed, especially now that diplomacy is becoming more transnational and less linked to the foreign ministries of states.
This paper assesses geographic and especially political geographic work on transnational bureaucratic knowledge production. The term 'transnational' signals policy processes that blend national and extranational dynamics in institutional settings that transcend the governmental structures of states. The focus is on the international arena rather than national policy-making. The paper foregrounds the growing attention to bureaucratic processes in geography and highlights some productive arguments about spatiality and practice in that work. I stress the need for closer interdisciplinary engagements with related disciplines and I point to the insights that we would gain from the work of Pierre Bourdieu in that effort. ; Arts, Faculty of ; Geography, Department of ; Reviewed ; Faculty
This article investigates the workings of symbolic power in diplomatic practice. At the level of empirical observation, it focuses on the intangible incalculable 'feel for the game' that distinguishes a well-informed and relaxed insider from an ill-informed and ill at ease outsider in European Union (EU) diplomatic circles in Brussels. By highlighting the play of social resources like reputation, presence, poise, and composure in these circles, I examine EU diplomacy from an angle -- symbolic power -- that is often overlooked in the existing work on that field. Conceptually, the article foregrounds the role of informal social resources rather than formal institutional structures in diplomatic practice. It also outlines the potential synergies between the study of diplomacy in international relations (IR) on the one hand and geography, anthropology, and sociology on the other. The article thereby advances the analytical toolbox of diplomatic studies and practice theory. Such conceptual sharpening is needed especially now that diplomacy is becoming more transnational and less linked to the foreign ministries of states. ; Arts, Faculty of ; Geography, Department of ; Reviewed ; Faculty
In: Political geography: an interdisciplinary journal for all students of political studies with an interest in the geographical and spatial aspects, Band 60, S. 261-271
In: Political geography: an interdisciplinary journal for all students of political studies with an interest in the geographical and spatial aspects, Band 44, S. 19-28