Prof. Annabelle Littoz-Monnet has won this year's Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS) International Geneva Award. Prof. Littoz-Monnet, who co-directs the Institute's Global Governance Centre, received the award for her journal article entitled, “Expert Knowledge as a Strategic Resource: International Bureaucrats and the Shaping of Bioethical Standards.”

The article asks how international secretariats can sometimes expand their authority in areas that relate neither to their mandate, nor to their sphere of expert authority. The article claims that entrepreneurial bureaucrats can succeed—in the absence of policy deadlock among states—in creating creep in unexpected issue domains through the mobilization of external expertise. It examines this dynamic in the domain of bioethical standards and shows that UNESCO acted as a first mover in the field, despite having no relevant expertise, and despite bioethics being more closely connected to the mandate of other organizations.

Entrepreneurial bureaucrats within UNESCO were able to create creep in bioethics by mobilizing external experts in the field and capturing their skills. Working with external experts endowed their organization with the capacity to act, gave epistemic authority to their actions, and prevented the politicization of debates in a potentially controversial issue domain. In pointing to the strategic uses of expertise, the article challenges the commonly held view that expert knowledge acts as a means of solving problems and rationalizing global governance.

The International Geneva Award is given annually to the three best papers published on a subject related to international studies especially useful from the perspective of international organisations. The prestigious academic distinction was also established to encourage outstanding research scientists to produce publications that promote links between Swiss academics and International Geneva.