Epistemic Communities and Cooperative Security: The Case of Communicable Disease Control in the Baltic Sea Region

Abstract

This study analyzes when, or under what conditions, epistemic communities succeed in promoting ideas about cooperative security to intergovernmental structures at the regional level. Following a preliminary case study of communicable disease control in the Baltic Sea region, we find that conditioners traditionally highlighted by specialists on epistemic communities apply to this case as well. The expert network on communicable disease control has been favored by consensus among the specialists, by uncertainty among policy-makers, and by an institutionalization of scientific advice. Moreover, we find little support for conditioners that have been borrowed from transnational relations research at large. This means that the epistemic community has been influential despite a low degree of density, a lack of resources, and a narrow use of communication strategies. The latter implies that the strength of the substantial arguments, in combination with the dramatic character of the issue, has made policy-makers susceptible to input from experts.