Communities of Practice in World Politics

Maïka Sondarjee is an associate professor at the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa. Her research addresses communities of practice, the coloniality of power in global governance, the marginalization of feminist and Global South research in IR, as well as inclusive development at the World Bank. She has published in outlets such as International Studies Quarterly, Third World Quarterly, Millennium, Global Society, International Journal, International Studies Perspectives, and Global Studies Quarterly.

"This rich and thought-provoking book pushes international practice theory forward by demonstrating that learning and inclusion are not the opposites of hierarchy and power but rather their complements. Sondarjee’s meticulous empirical research on the internal politics of World Bank development policymaking shows vividly the complicity of participatory mechanisms in shapeshifting global social structures largely inherited from the colonial era."Vincent Pouliot, James McGill Professor, Department of Political Science, McGill University"Sondarjee's pathbreaking take on the Bank offers fascinating insights on how power is exercised and contested within epistemic communities. Drawing on cutting edge theory, this essential book is also a practical guide to learning about the ways that international development institutions shape and constrain the prospects for transformative change."Adam Sneyd, Associate Professor, University of Guelph"This is an innovative and important research on IOs and the World Bank, drawing on feminist and postcolonial approaches and International practices. This book advances the research agenda on communities of practice in world politics to capture the political and economic effects of the social dimension of shared knowledge creation and identify the sources of knowledge production and collective learning, as well as the normative and political contestation within and between communities of practice, so as to explore them as instruments for cultivating norms, values, and practices in global governance from the bottom up."Niklas Bremberg, Associate Professor of Political Science, Stockholm University

• 1. Introduction 2. Relations, Processes, and Narratives in Communities of Practice 3. Collective Learning at the Boundaries of Communities of Practice 4. Inclusive Procedural Practices within CoPs at the Bank 5. Boundaries as Sites for Collective Learning 6. Boundary Brokers are not Alone, not even James Wolfensohn 7. Contestation in and of Practices 8. “Better Practices” and Coloniality of Epistemic Power 9. Conclusion: Implications for Multilateral Development Policymaking