Communities of practice and what they can do for International Relations

Abstract

This article argues that communities of practice (CoPs) provide IR with a unique way to understand how a small group of committed people can make a difference to international politics. The point is addressed in three steps. First, the article advances our understanding of how CoPs work. While at its core a CoP is a group of people brought together by a practice they enjoy, a CoP also shares a sense of timing, placing, and humour. These aspects help the group anchor, refine, and innovate their practice in the face of challenges and uncertainty. Second, the article contrasts the analysis of CoPs with other IR approaches, especially institutional analysis, network analysis, and epistemic communities, to show how CoPs supplement them. Third, the article illustrates the argument with the example of the EU foreign policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It concludes by suggesting that a CoP's perspective not only helps IR better understand informal politics, but also opens up conversations across disciplines.

Defence cooperation and change: How defence industry integration fostered development of the European security community

“…Graeger, 2016). 3 To conceive of the 'defence industry machine' as a community of practice thus means to see it not simply as a network with certain formal features -a structure that restrains or enables -but as a community of practitioners who do not just pass information but learn, share and innovate their practice in working together, with constitutive effects for the security community of which this machine is an element (on the discussion of potential of combining network and communities of practices research, see Bicchi, 2022). In contrast to epistemic communities (Davis Cross, 2013;Haas, 1992), the focus of the community of practice perspective is not dissemination of knowledge that (about objects) but rather the shared common sense as the invisible, background knowledge of how to act.…”

“…This may entail every socialisation (Bremberg, 2015) that takes place among the militaries as traditionally nationalised and sovereigntist milieus, emergence of transnational epistemic communities of senior military officers around sites such as international headquarters or junior staff during exercises and multinational military operations. It also enables a rise of other communities of practice of people who work well together and share a sense of timing, placing and even humour (Bicchi, 2022) outside the military institutions in newly formed transnational fields within the security community assemblage – the ‘defence industry machine’ explored below is a case in point. Indeed, these new communities of practice can be generative of specific institutions when codification becomes necessary to ensure predictability and coordination as interactions become more dense and complex and previously habitual practices are normalised, objectified, officialised and formalised (cf.…”

Exploring the impact of COVID‐19 on the psychological well‐being of oncology healthcare professionals

“…Social interaction within professional groups is characterized through safe and facilitative environments for learning and the promotion of professional identity. Often termed “communities of practice,” these are characterized through social interactions, sharing of knowledge and shared problem‐solving (Bicchi, 2021). The term community of practice was originally developed by Wenger et al (2002) as a learning model to articulate how apprentices learn by engaging in complex sets of social relationships with more advanced apprentices.…”

“…The experience of mutual care and support was appreciated and was described using various metaphor terms such as “Dunkirk spirit”; being “in the same boat”; and part of a “family.” Camaraderie and solidarity were a core component of well‐being experience. Participants used humour to diffuse stress and lighten the mood, a core element in the culture of peer support and group membership (Bicchi, 2021). Social interactions in communities of practice, for example sharing interests and details of personal lives, are known to facilitate the creation of “safe” spaces within which to interact and communicate (Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, 2023).…”

From Practices to Praxis: ASEAN's Transnational Climate Governance Networks as Communities of Practice

“…Moreover, institutions contribute to the understanding of communities of practice by providing opportunities and settings wherein the informal aspects of international norms and rules are manifested through the practices of transnational actors 2022. Communities of practice when studied in relation to institutions can bring about synergistic effects.…”