Boundary Concepts for Boundary Work Between Science and Technology Studies and International Relations: Special Issue Introduction

Orsini, Amandine; Louafi, Sélim; Morin, Jean-Frédéric

doi:10.1111/ropr.12273

Cited by 33 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Are such actors less predisposed to boundary work because they fall outside an organization's ethos, or more predisposed precisely because they seek to belong to the organizational ingroup? Empirical and conceptual refinement could arise from comparisons with other transnational boundary processes (Orsini et al, 2017). Ultimately, however, a larger question looms: If IOs are so adept at backstaging certain activities, how can we avoid taking their frontstage renditions at face value?…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exclusive expertise: the boundary work of international organizations

Kranke

2020

Review of International Political Economy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Scholars of global governance tend to agree that international organizations (IOs) enjoy expert authority because they provide applicable specialist knowledge for policymaking. This view implies that IOs' expert status rests more on the contents than the presentation of their knowledge. Integrating the sociological concept of 'boundary work' into a Goffmanian symbolic-dramaturgical perspective, this article articulates a competing interpretation that recovers the relational and performative aspects of expert authority. I argue that, in settings where spheres of authority overlap, boundary work by IOs serves two loosely coupled functions: demarcation and cooperation. While IOs demarcate their jurisdictions on the 'frontstage' to craft perceptions of exclusive expertise, they closely cooperate on the 'backstage' to mitigate internal resource constraints. I illustrate this argument by examining the relationship between the International Monetary Fund (IMF or Fund) and the World Bank (or Bank) around the joint Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP). Based on elite interviews and relevant documents, the analysis shows that the IMF's frontstage boundary work entailed promoting FSAP reforms and launching a new surveillance initiative without the World Bank. Yet while demarcation can augment an IO's expertise, it risks poisoning inter-organizational relationships.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exclusive expertise: the boundary work of international organizations

Kranke

2020

Review of International Political Economy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Since the 1980s, the boundary concept has evolved. In their literature overview, Orsini, Louafi, and Morin (2017) identify three directions that explain the relationship between policy and knowledge production: boundary objects, boundary work and boundary organisations. Star and Griesemer (1989) pointed to the role boundary objects.…”

Section: Boundary Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to Guston (2001), boundary organisations are explicitly set up to manage or study the boundary between science and politics. For example, a technology transfer office conducts boundary work by encouraging collaboration between scientists and technology transfer specialists, through invention disclosures (Orsini et al, 2017).…”

Section: Boundary Organisationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Smart mobility innovation policy as boundary work: identifying the challenges of user involvement

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In 2013 the Dutch Minister for Infrastructure and Water Management initiated a policy programme that aimed to develop a transition towards smart mobility. A Roadmap was developed to support the policy innovation programme because previous initiatives have failed due to the lack of a strategic document. The Roadmap's first transition pathway (policy goal) called for a development of a user-centric smart mobility. We analysed how this policy goal has been enacted. We conducted 32 semistructured interviews with relevant smart mobility practitioners, which we have analysed through our theoretical framework consisting of three boundary concepts: boundary work, boundary objects and boundary organisations. Additionally, we have drawn from the literature on user-involvement. The boundary concepts have led us to identifying two main challenges that led to an unsuccessful realisation of the policy goal. One, the responsibilities for involving users have been transferred to numerous actors, who renegotiated the goals assigned to them by the Ministry, resorting to their old techno-centric innovating ways. The dominance of the techno-centric perspective acted as a barrier and inhibited a successful implementation of a more usercentric approach. Two, a key criterion for successful realisation of the pathwaynamely, the support of an organisation specifically held accountable for realising the pathwaywas absent. In our conclusion we provide recommendations for a more successful user-inclusion, as well as reflections on the state of the smart mobility policy in The Netherlands.

show abstract

“…We closed 2017 with a special issue on the limits and potential of the concepts of boundary organizations and boundary work as lens for understanding sciencepolicy interactions in intergovernmental processes (Orsini, Louafi, & Morin, 2017;Compagnon & Bernstein, 2017), from the Arctic Council (Spence, 2017) to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (H. R. Hughes & Paterson, 2017).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Over a Decade of Scholarship on the Politics and Policy of Science and Technology

Auld

2018

Review of Policy Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Boundary Concepts for Boundary Work Between Science and Technology Studies and International Relations: Special Issue Introduction

Cited by 33 publications

References 32 publications

Exclusive expertise: the boundary work of international organizations

Exclusive expertise: the boundary work of international organizations

Smart mobility innovation policy as boundary work: identifying the challenges of user involvement

Over a Decade of Scholarship on the Politics and Policy of Science and Technology

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About