Knowledge in power: the epistemic construction of global governance

This chapter aims to anchor a normative theory of global governance in a reworked conception of epistemes that accounts for the role of productive power and institutional power in setting the conditions of possibility for good (moral) global governance. We outline our argument in three parts. First, we reintroduce a modified conception of episteme into the international relations (IR) literature to argue that power is a disposition (in the sense of ordering or controlling) that depends on knowledge. Power is also productive in the sense of defining the order of global things, to paraphrase Michel Foucault. In addition, we try to show that power's productive capacity is often followed by the development of formal and informal institutions that play a role in fixing meanings, which are necessary for global governance. Second, we put forward a normative theory of the requirements of global governance that builds on these notions. We argue that global governance rests on material capabilities and knowledge, without which there is no governance, and legitimacy and fairness, without which there is no moral governance. Third, we bring these insights to bear on a brief discussion of the effects of epistemes on emerging pockets of global governance and the possibilities and limits of moving global governance in a more sustainable and just direction. We use international trade and the related legal system to illustrate the above relationship.