CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS article
Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. International Studies
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpos.2025.1516516
Mobilizing contextual knowledge: regional organizations and the genesis of policy ideas
Provisionally accepted
- University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
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This article examines how regional organizations (ROs) generate distinct policy ideas through the mobilization of regional knowledge. Although some ROs have gained considerable influence in international politics, their institutional idiosyncrasies largely remain underexplored and undertheorized. The article first intends to clarify the conceptual relationship between regions, regionalism, and regional organizations. Secondly, it proposes a theoretical framework of regional knowledge and knowledge mobilization through ROs. Relying on constructivist and institutionalist notions of international relations, it argues that the ability to draw from both regional and global bodies of knowledge distinguishes ROs from other IOs. The article posits that ROs leverage both regional, context-specific knowledge and global, formalized knowledge, particularly in policy fields where local and regional socio-cultural context is crucial. Regional knowledge thereby fulfills a moderating role in the genesis of regional policy ideas. ROs are thus to be treated as unique social actors which act back against their environments in ways which are often specific to them.
Keywords: Regionalism, regional organizations, knowledge, ideas, Problem definitions, policy solutions
Received: 24 Oct 2024; Accepted: 07 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Krogmann. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: David Krogmann, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
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