PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

This chapter addresses polycentric governing with concepts from actor-network theory (ANT). ANT explains how and with what effects contemporary governing is increasingly performed through seemingly neutral socio-material practices of expertise, such as indicators, standards, or assessments. ANT originated in the 1980s, when sociologists started ethnographic examinations of the mundane laboratory practices of natural scientists. Already this early work proposed certain radical claims: for example, that objects have agency, that science is politics by other means, and that micro-practices have macro effects. These propositions have subsequently inspired scholars across the social sciences and humanities. Reflecting ANT’s focus on case studies, this chapter provides three inroads into polycentric governing. First, it elaborates on the novel techniques of governing-by-expertise, such as certification schemes or experiments in polycentric governing which draw heavily on black-boxed expert knowledge. Second, inquiring into forms of power, the chapter examines how science-policy networks generate and fix knowledge about global environmental problems. In so doing, they engage in ‘ontological politics’ that describe the power to normalize specific constructions of reality and inevitably exclude other actors and other governing logics. Third, a vignette regarding the United Nations Security Council elucidates the politics of legitimation when Colin Powell tried to convince the world of the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. This case exemplifies how legitimation is closely coupled with practices of evidence making.