[[epistemic communities]]: professional networks with authoritative and policy-relevant expertise. - EC has become more important in a globalised world. - The internal coherence of EC influence their degree of influence - Knoweldge & uncertainty, alignment between govt and EC are paramount to their synergistic relationship - Global governance leads to more regulation in safety, but less on barriers Transnational policy elites, such as: rating agencies, investment banks, consultancy firms, professional associations, trade unions, elite clubs, and trade exchanges, knowledge-based or not, often are the enforcers of the rules once they are established. In that sense, they are distinct from [[epistemic communities]] that are authoritative in defining the rules. > In an increasingly globalised world with considerable advances in transnational interaction, the value of expertise and knowledge and the networks of professionals who develop and sustain it are ever more apparent. [[Peter Haas defines epistemic communities beyond natural sciences. To him, it is a network of professionals with recognised expertise and competence in a particular domain and an authoritative claim to policy-relevant knowledge within that domain]] [[General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)]] was a result of lobbying from [[epistemic communities]] to favor [[Trade liberalisation]] effort.