The Joint Vienna Institute

Shaping Policy Curves: Cognitive Authority in Transnational Capacity Building

“…The JVI was originally established in 1992 as a collaborative endeavour between five IOs and the Austrian central bank and ministry of finance, in order to facilitate the transition to market‐based economies in post‐communist countries by fostering changes in how Soviet‐trained economic policy officials understood market processes and economic governance. From its early focus on training national officials in the basic principles of macroeconomics for market‐based systems, the JVI has since evolved to provide sophisticated practice‐based policy training as post‐communist countries gradually became more integrated into the global economy (Broome , p. 621).…”

Transforming ‘Sympathetic Interlocutors’ into Veto Players

“…Marcussen (2007, 147) states that monetary policymaking "has increasingly been lifted out of its national context, and international co-operation between central bankers has taken on a life of its own." Besides years of meetings and interactions in various international fora, the IMF often provides technical assistance and tailored education programs to monetary authorities (Broome and Seabrooke, 2007;Broome, 2010;IMF, 2016). 9 Although many emerging market and developing economies lack qualified personnel, central banks often attract the most capable public servants.…”

World Bank technical assistance: Locating and cultivating sympathetic interlocutors

“…Consider those who can and will initiate and manage the changes needed” (WBI, , p. 8, emphasis in the original). As a unique form of engagement between the World Bank and its member countries, the EDI and WBI have operated quietly in the background seeking to persuasively socialize participants into accepting selective understandings of and approaches to development; training institutes “can facilitate the steady reconfiguration of actors’ material incentives through the gradual acceptance of new cognitive frameworks and normative standards of policy behaviour” (Broome, , p. 623).…”

“…While training institutes “play a crucial role in [the] process of shifting policymakers’ ‘habits of mind’ through rapidly enlarging the pool of highly trained officials” familiar with and accepting of foreign development policy norms (Broome, , p. 617), their success in identifying or cultivating effective sympathetic interlocutors is context dependent upon participant authority, resources, and power.…”