Global governance is assumed to work largely through a consensus generating knowledge machinery rather than an apparatus of force. But how can such a messy phenomenon, with an organization as disorderly as the United Nations (UN) at its core, be so effective at producing political "knowledges"? The answer lies less in the guidance that the most powerful nations exert than in the hidden processes that unfold within this "mess". At the example of UN targeted sanctions in Africa, I show how a monitoring mechanism initialized by the UN Security Council was little guided by great power politics. It became, however, a place of competition between different expert groups, with some prevailing over others. At the same time, it produced a new body of knowledge about the handling of internal armed conflict in Africa and assimilated that knowledge across the Security Council as well as some Human Rights organizations and think tanks. This study brings us closer to identifying the dislocated and more subtle dynamics of power that permeate global governance. 

Conférence organisée par le CEPSI, en collaboration avec le CÉRIUM