Introduction: exploring the International Statistical Institute, 1885–1938

ABSTRACT This introduction does two things. On the one hand, it explains why investigating the history of the International Statistical Institute is of interest not only for students of the history of statistics, but also for those tackling more general questions like the relationship between power and knowledge; the scope and development of globalization; or the closely entangled genesis of ‘the national’ and ‘the international’. On the other hand, it introduces the individual papers of this special issue and highlights how the authors contextualize the organization in the outlined more general historiographic framework.