Focal Times and Spaces: How Ethnography Foregrounds the Spatiotemporality of International Organizations and Global Governance
| Published date | 01 December 2021 |
| Author | Julian Eckl |
| Date | 01 December 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12908 |
Focal Times and Spaces: How Ethnography
Foregrounds the Spatiotemporality of
International Organizations and Global
Governance
Julian Eckl
University of St. Gallen, and
University of Hamburg
Abstract
Drawing on a long-term political ethnography of sites of global health governance, the paper makes methodological and sub-
stantive contributions. First of all, it shows that ethnography induces researchers to experience international organizations
(IOs) and global governance as spatiotemporal phenomena. This experience overlaps with the lived realities of practitioners
and spotlights aspects that are otherwise easily overlooked. Both practitioners and ethnographers have to be in specific
spaces at particular times. This practical challenge illustrates that there are focal times and spaces, which are linked to the
cyclical and sited character of global health governance. These focal times and spaces provide an important coordination
mechanism and ease the general flow of knowledge –within IOs and between IOs and their environment. However, there is
also the constant danger that they develop a self-referential life of their own and become disconnected from other processes.
Similarly, not just researchers but also practitioners are struggling to develop a comprehensive understanding of IOs since
they experience them only partially and in specific settings. Thus, a spatiotemporal account highlights both overlooked links
and unexpected disconnections. The conclusion mentions that the current –COVID-19-induced –mainstreaming of digital
technologies will impact the spatiotemporal dimension of global health governance.
Policy Implications
•Policy makers should more systematically acknowledge the contribution of focal times and spaces to the coordination of
global governance processes and to the flow of knowledge.
•At the same time, policy makers have to pay attention to the danger that these focal times and spaces can develop a
self-referential life of their own and become disconnected from other processes.
•Whether policy makers encounter global health at global focal times and spaces or in specific local settings, each first-
hand experience has its specific limits. Policy makers should be aware of the limits of their own first-hand experiences
and systematically complement them with other sources of information, including the experiences and views that others
bring to the table.
•The annual governance cycle links various meetings in a sequential manner and decisions are often precooked at meet-
ings that take place before the main governance bodies convene. While some policy makers prefer this kind of upstream-
ing of decision making in order to smoothen the working of the governance bodies, they should not lose sight of the
potentially negative consequences, for example regarding inclusiveness and transparency.
•Policy makers will have to assess the impact that the current, COVID-19-induced, mainstreaming of digital technologies
(e.g. online conferencing tools) has on the spatiotemporal dimension of global health governance. In this context, they
should identify areas in which digital technologies can complement and support previously existing practices of on-site
meetings as well as areas in which on-site meetings remain indispensable, for example in order to secure meaningful and
inclusive deliberations.
Experiencing spatiotemporality and accounting for
its impact
International organizations (IOs) have inter alia been
described as passive instruments of powerful actors, as neu-
tral platforms for negotiations, and as influential actors in
their own right; such divergent images are typically the con-
sequence of the competing theoretical perspectives on
which scholars draw (Pease, 2016; Rittberger et al., 2012).
This paper adds an additional layer to these discussions by
illustrating the link between the methodology on which one
relies and the image one gets.
©2020 The Authors. Global Policy published by Durham University and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Global Policy (2022) 12:Suppl.7 doi: 10.1111/1758-5899.12908
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use,
distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Global Policy Volume 12 . Supplement 7 . December 2021
34
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