Little acknowledged as the observation may be, the making of modern global governance has long implied the production of interlinguistic commensurability. Equivalences between languages are needed–and thus fabricated–in order to allow for cooperation and institutionalization at the global level. Diplomats, jurists and interpreters have long contributed to such standardization in the translation of specialized concepts and notions geared towards managing the world.
While this process was never neutral, involving largely asymmetrical transfers as well as oligopolistic tendencies in privileging Western European languages, it has moved forward to the point that today, few people would question the idea(l) of universal translatability in global governance. In fact, over the past couple decades global governors have arguably been outdone as the multilingual ruling elite. Thanks to the broad deployment and commercialization of machine translation technology, interlinguistic relations are now accessible to anyone equipped with a smartphone. Computer scientists and algorithms introduce a new global politics of languages that extends, but also renews age-old dynamics of interlingual relations, including English as global lingua franca.
In this Global Governance Talk, Vincent Pouliot will take stock of the long march toward interlinguistic commensurability in global governance, from colonial times to the age of artificial intelligence.
Speaker
Vincent Pouliot is James McGill Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science at McGill University. His forthcoming book, co-authored with Jean-Philippe Thérien, is entitled Global Policymaking: The Patchwork of Global Governance (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Pouliot is also the author of International Pecking Orders: The Politics and Practice of Multilateral Diplomacy (2016, winner of the inaugural Hedley Bull Award) and International Security in Practice: The Politics of NATO-Russia Diplomacy (2010); as well as the co-editor of Theorizing World Orders: Cognitive Evolution and Beyond (2021), Diplomacy and the Making of World Politics (2015) and International Practices (2011), all from Cambridge University Press.
Discussant
Julia Bethwaite, Doctoral Researcher in International Relations at the Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University, and Research Associate at the Global Governance Centre, Geneva Graduate Institute
Moderator
Annabelle Littoz-Monnet, Professor of International Relations/Political Science and Director of the Global Governance Centre, Geneva Graduate Institute
This event is co-organized with the University of Lausanne's Centre d'histoire internationale et d'études politiques de la mondialisation.
