The limits of global authority: World Bank benchmarks in Ethiopia and Malawi

Global benchmarks (re)shape political conversations and institutionalise authoritative languages. It does not necessarily follow, however, that benchmarks can exert a lasting or significant influence over policies and behaviour of benchmarked actors. We analyse how the World Bank uses benchmarks to manage...

Diplomacy and the Making of World Politics, Introduction

In this Introduction, we accomplish two main goals. First, we provide theoretical tools to better grasp the role and character of diplomacy and how it may be changing in the contemporary era. We develop a relational framework focused on two dimensions: the evolving configurations of state and non-state...

The Politics of Expertise. Competing for Authority in Global Governance

Experts dominate all facets of global governance, from accounting practices and antitrust regulations to human rights law and environmental conservation. In this study, Ole Jacob Sending encourages a critical interrogation of the role and power of experts by unveiling the politics of the ongoing competition...

Diplomats and Humanitarians in Crisis Governance

Diplomacy and the Making of World Politics

Introduction

Diplomacy and Dialogue

Status and sovereign equality: Small states in multilateral settings

In this chapter, we explore Norwegian UN policy, arguing that it is a central arena for Norwegian efforts to be recognized by others. Our focus on Norwegian UN policy is not an end in itself, but a means to develop a more general argument about status seeking behaviour in a multilateral setting. We argue...

The “humanitarianization” of urban violence

The International Civil Servant

Nettverk for de rike og mektige / Forfatter: Ulf Peter Hellstrøm, tekst, [intervju med Ole Jacob Sending]

There is no global public: the idea of the public and the legitimation of governance