AUTHOR=Krogmann David 

TITLE=Mobilizing contextual knowledge: regional organizations and the genesis of policy ideas

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Political Science

VOLUME=Volume 7 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/political-science/articles/10.3389/fpos.2025.1516516

DOI=10.3389/fpos.2025.1516516

ISSN=2673-3145

ABSTRACT=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.