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In the latest episode of The Public Sphere Podcast, Dipyaman Chakrabarti, interviews Toby Dodge, Professor of International Relations and ex-Director of Middle East Center, about his life straddling the dual roles of academic and policymaker, having advised all consecutive US and UK Governments on Iraq after the Invasion of 2003. We probe into some of the fundamental misconceptions about the role experts play in devising policy for the government. In doing so we attempt to break apart the created tension between the more ‘uncompromised’ forms of knowledge in Academia vs the more ‘manipulated’ and ‘short-sighted’ endeavor of policymaking. In the conclusion, we observe how they are both rooted in similar methodologies and colonial epistemologies in their production of knowledge.
