Situated between various social worlds, brokers are highly mobile figures, in a physical and an ideational sense; they channel scarce information and resources, translate different languages and jargons, and mediate and facilitate between individuals and/or organisations, the local and the global, in a wide range of settings. Taking an in-depth ethnographic look at the actual work of brokers and their particular life stories, contributions to this special issue examine brokers’ successes and failures, their vulnerabilities and limitations, (changing) interests and motivations within the cultural contexts that these brokers are part of. By adopting a comparative perspective in a thematic and a geographic sense, this special issue discusses the role of brokerage in diverse settings such as the transnational world of trade and development, peacebuilding and activism, refugee care and health care, government services and colonialism. In preparing the ground for our individual contributions, this introductory article identifies gaps in the existing brokerage literature and develops the conceptual framework for the special issue.