Policy Fields and the Politics of Global Governance.

International Relations theory is explicitly or implicitly very much focused on the realist ?problem of order? and the liberal ?problem of cooperation?. These two foundational problematiques has heavily influenced theorizing about world politics, making it overly state-centric. In an effort to contribute to the on-going exploration of other, and less state-centric approaches to world politics, this paper will explore the relevance of Bourdieu?s concept of ?fields? (champ) for analyzing the politics of global governance. The establishment of the UN and the Bretton Woods Institutions after WWII set in motion a process of supra- and transnational institutionalization. Ever more functionally defined issue-areas, such as health, education, development, population, labour, culture etc. were institutionalized through the establishment of multilateral organizations charged with the task of facilitating inter-state cooperation and the provision of technical advice. Different issue areas can thus be defined and analyzed in terms of policy fields as these are formalized in international organizational structures and supported by a concomitant network of relevant expertise. The politics within IOs are not fully explained by the interaction between states, but must be supplemented with an analysis of the ?politics? between different policy fields. This entails analyzing the formation and content of the knowledge, norms and interests that constitutes different policy fields and the tensions between them. The paper will analyze the genesis of the policy field of ?development? within the UN over the last two decades, exploring the politics involved in changing the boundaries and meaning of ?development? and its relation to security policy. Focusing on the role of knowledge and its structuring effect upon the identity of a policy field, the paper will provide a knowledge-centred account of the functioning and politics of global governance as expressed in the UN. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]