Inaugural Lecture by Professor Christina Garsten

Seeing like a think tank: Transparency, deep lobbying, and anticipatory governance

Every organization with ambitions to make an impact on contemporary affairs engages in a variety of activities aimed at better understanding, predicting, and governing the world.  Think tanks are no exception. On the contrary, they illustrate poignantly the quest for knowledge that sticks, knowledge that is policy-relevant, robust, and anticipatory in nature. Based on this type of knowledge, they enter into policy debates and aim to shape policy agendas. Furthermore, they aim to influence policy-making and hence to play a role in the governance of contemporary affairs. The form of governance in which they engage may be seen as anticipatory, in that it aims towards modeling and designing the future. Ethnographic work in think tanks brings to the fore the making of organizational knowledge, the role of social connections and narratives in advocacy, and the problematics of transparency of organizational boundaries and practices. Ultimately, is evokes questions about how we can engage methodologically with seemingly opaque organizational settings aiming to govern the world and to envision possible futures. The lecture will engage in these topics, and provide a view of the broader trajectory of my research interests.

Program:

15.00-15.15: Welcome by HoD Dorte Salskov-Iversen and DoR Alan Irwin
15-15-16.00: Inaugural lecture by Christina Garsten
16.00-17.00: Reception at ICM

Please register at tilmelding.ikl@cbs.dk