Adam Saxton

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Excited to announce the publication of my first peer reviewed academic article at EJIR! Co-authored with @carsonaust.bsky.social and available @ejir.bsky.social here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... See a quick summary below!

The article contributes to debates on state formation, the role of intelligence in IR, and sheds light on how states make “legible” domains like AI and cyber today.

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For more, see the full article linked here! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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First: improvised connectedness—states tap experts already embedded in emerging epistemic communities that already exist in the new domain or geographic area. This identifies a distinctive role for epistemic communities: as assets for state intelligence collection. www.jstor.org/stable/2706951

jstor.org Introduction: Epistemic Communities and International Policy Coordination on JSTOR Peter M. Haas, Introduction: Epistemic Communities and International Policy Coordination, International Organization, Vol. 46, No. 1, Knowledge, Power, and International Policy Coordination (Winter, 1...

Second: improvised institutionalization – states shift to creating experimental, new organizations and nascent bureaucracies to manage intelligence collection in this new area, often nudged forward by intense geopolitical competition or war.

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We conceptualize this process as “improvised legibility”— building on James Scott’s concept of legibility from Seeing Like a State. We adapt legibility to early stages of state efforts to see foreign spaces. www.amazon.com/Seeing-like-...

amazon.comSeeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have FailedSeeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed [James C. Scott] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed

Improvised legibility describes states’ early efforts to collect intelligence in new geographic domains and issue areas. We highlight how states engage in ad hoc, experimental efforts to tap “off-the shelf” expertise. Improvised legibility proceeds in two stages:

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Why archaeologists? They occupied elite networks and were local experts—fluent in languages, cultures, and customs—with skills in observation, mapping, photography, and detailed reporting. Crucially, they also had scientific cover.

We show how Britain used archaeologists in early intelligence efforts in the Middle East. Early British state knowledge of Iraq and Palestine drew on the expertise of archaeologists like Austen Henry Layard, T.E. Lawrence, Leonard Woolley, and Gertrude Bell.

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Our basic story: the Indiana Jones films have a grain of truth to them. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, archaeologists really did navigate ancient ruins while quietly spying for their home state.