@article{Littoz-Monnet:295666,
      recid = {295666},
      author = {Littoz-Monnet, Annabelle},
      title = {Expert knowledge as a strategic resource international  bureaucrats and the shaping of bioethical standards},
      address = {2017},
      number = {ARTICLE},
      note = {The article was awarded the 2017 SNIS International Geneva  Award},
      abstract = {This article asks how international secretariats can  sometimes expand their authority in areas that relate  neither to their mandate, nor to their sphere of expert  authority. Existing explanations of mission creep assume  that IOs act autonomously and expand in those areas that  connect with their mandates, sense of organizational  mission, and sphere of expert authority. The claim here is  that entrepreneurial bureaucrats can succeed—in the absence  of policy deadlock among states—in creating creep in  unexpected issue domains through the mobilization of  external expertise. The article examines this dynamic in  the domain of bioethical standards. It shows that UNESCO  acted as a first mover in the field, despite having no  relevant expertise, and despite bioethics being more  closely connected to the mandate of other organizations.  Entrepreneurial bureaucrats within UNESCO were able to  create creep in bioethics by mobilizing external experts in  the field and capturing their skills. Working with external  experts endowed their organization with the capacity to  act, gave epistemic authority to their actions, and  prevented the politicization of debates in a potentially  controversial issue domain. In pointing to the strategic  uses of expertise, the article challenges the commonly held  view that expert knowledge acts as a means of solving  problems and rationalizing global governance.},
      url = {http://repository.graduateinstitute.ch/record/295666},
}