This fascinating book investigates the strategic importance of the production and dissemination of expertise in the activities of the international organizations (IOs) that have come to symbolize the dominance of the Western political and economic order.

Contents: Foreword xi Leslie A. Pal 1 Introduction 1 David Dolowitz, Magdaléna Hadjiisky and Romuald Normand 2 Diffusing marketization: competition, synergies, and repartition of tasks in the global agri-food policy field 16 Eve Fouilleux 3 Neoliberalism and the ‘think-tank image’ fallacy: a sociological exploration of homologies of structuration inside the OECD, EU, and governments 36 Vincent Gayon 4 Beyond the standardization versus contextualization debate: the role of the OECD in European education governance 57 Sotiria Grek 5 Transnational care chains as seen by the OECD, the World Bank, and the IOM 77 Rianne Mahon 6 The power of ‘soft skills’: the role of the OECD in the shaping of a new cognitive motive in the global agora of education 95 Sarah Maire 7 The OECD’s rules and standards for the testing and assessment of chemicals 116 Annie Martin 8 Knowledge battles at the World Bank: how institutional activists introduced the norm of participation into international development policy 137 Olivier Nay 9 Walking the Washington talk? An analysis of the World Bank’s policy-practice disjuncture in education 162 Clara Fontdevila and Antoni Verger 10 Conclusion 183 David Dolowitz, Magdaléna Hadjiisky and Romuald Normand Epistocracy: an afterword on global policy and ‘rule by the wise’ 194 Diane Stone Bibliography 200 Index 231