I am broadly interested in interrogating international relations theory by examining the history of global governance and international thought. My research examines, historically and sociologically, the modern international political imagination from the point of view of experts, technicians, and capitalists. As Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the University of Antwerp, I currently investigate the relationship between the notion of luxury and visions of modern global order.
My first book – The Technocratic International, Oxford University Press (forthcoming) – reconstructs the modern history of expert-based global governance. How did expertise emerge as a central ingredient of international cooperation? My answer combines an intellectual history of technocratic international thought with case studies of international experiments with expertise: the Suez canal, international telegraphy, and the first World’s Fairs. Listen to this interview to find out more. Relatedly, I am also the editor of Experts In A Turbulent World (Oxford University Press, forthcoming) which brings together historians and IR scholars working on expertise.
I’m currently finishing a second monograph on the politics of crisis and the institutionalisation of inequality at three early-twentieth century international organisations.