Bureaucratic Representations

Abstract

Not only IOs, but bureaucracies in general are producers of representations that gain political relevance as officalized knowledge. Such representations are certainly a functional requirement for any aspiration of rule. At the same time, such forms and contents of bureaucratic representations develop a life of their own and are part and parcel of what we perceive as "international relations" or even as political phenomena in world society. By looking into different internationalized policy fields we want to compare how these representations are produced, and what kind of practical and political implications they entail.