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Association: Name: International Studies Association 48th Annual Convention URL: http://www.isanet.org
Citation: URL: http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p180776_index.html Direct Link: HTML Code:

Stone, Diane. "The Evian Group and the World Trade Organization: The Scholarly Interstices of International Policy Making" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association 48th Annual Convention, Hilton Chicago, CHICAGO, IL, USA, Feb 28, 2007 <Not Available>. 2009-05-24 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p180776_index.html>

Stone, D. , 2007-02-28 "The Evian Group and the World Trade Organization: The Scholarly Interstices of International Policy Making" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association 48th Annual Convention, Hilton Chicago, CHICAGO, IL, USA <Not Available>. 2009-05-24 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p180776_index.html

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript Abstract: Global policy processes have emerged via the increasingly dense interactions of international commissions, multilateral initiatives, international organization and trans-nationalized public sector agencies. In such arenas, professional associations, think tanks, social science oriented foundations, university institutes and their knowledge-based networks can become players in the formulation, legitimation and evaluation of policy. In the weak institutional context of global and regional level governance, they are arguably more influential in shaping the parameters of policy making than within the confines of the nation-state in that they are constitutive in the construction of such new policy spaces.The Evian Group is a transnational research network, think tank, policy advocate and dialogue group. It is a private associate that conducts trade-related research and convenes high-level dialogues on the future role of the World Trade Organization (WTO). However, by comparison to similar trans-national groups like the World Economic Forum in Davos, Third World Network or the Trans Atlantic Business Dialogue, the Evian Group is not well known. Notwithstanding its public activities such as meetings and conferences, capacity building and training, its web-site and guide to trade experts, the Group is relatively exclusive and club like. Additionally, Evian is informally connected to powerful social forces within the WTO, the EU and leading corporations. Yet, proximity and affinity to power do not, by necessity, translate into policy influence. Although sometimes a powerful force, (social) science is not inherently or automatically persuasive in policy debates. The neo-liberal orthodoxy on free markets and trade integration ? such as that propounded by most members of the Evian Group ? is founded upon neo-classical economic theories that are dominant in the economics discipline and within international financial and trade institutions. However, this world view is contested by NGOs, social movements and other intellectual communities. The Evian Group secretariat finds it an on-going necessity to challenge the discourses of ?protectionist forces?. The contribution of private research groups to global and regional governance poses theoretical questions about power and how, when and if at all it is exercised through advocacy, education and policy research. Operating as a network itself, and via strategic interaction in other kinds of academic and policy networks, allows Evian to act as an ?informal diplomat? and ?reputational intermediary? in policy debate. Such trans-national networks present new pressures for accountability, representation and deliberation. Newspapers and the electronic media do not regard bodies like the Evian Group as newsworthy. Combined with its technocratic character, publics are excluded and political responsibility is undermined. As a consequence of the lack of transparency and mechanisms for public representation, and lack of knowledge about them, these networks act with relative autonomy and in some anonymity. They are more able to thwart challenges to their activities or calls for transparency by emphasizing their non-state, private status.The paper is part of a larger project on the role of Non Governmental Public Action. This project builds theory through a critique of pluralist and neo-corporatist writing on global networks. Alternative perspectives - transnational discourse coalitions and neo-Gramscian ideas - illuminate the technocratic and exclusive domains of global governance. NGPA via transnational networks cannot be assumed to be progressive public action; networks are also mechanism for privatizing policy spaces and restricting public access.

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