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The Informalization of Global Governance

Comparative Politics
Governance
Regulation
Global
International
Institutions
International relations
19
Oliver Westerwinter
Universität St Gallen
Christine Neuhold
Maastricht Universiteit
IR Panel

This workshop will break new ground in the study of informal global governance—a research area that has recently attracted a significant amount of scholarly interest and generated a wave of new work. The academic debate points us into the direction that informal governance refers to the systematic influence of unwritten rules, shared expectations, or norms within the international system. It includes informal practices within formal international organizations (IOs), informal institutions, and a broad array of regulatory networks constituted by state and non-state actors. The first wave of research on the topic approached informal governance from a functionalist perspective and emphasized its efficiency advantages vis-à-vis formal agreements. More recent contributions focus on the political dimensions of informal governance. We build on this work to further develop the evolving research agenda on informal global governance. We do this by taking a political perspective on informal governance by emphasizing that actors that cooperate through informal arrangements typically pursue conflicting agendas, compete for scarce resources, and struggle for influence over policy-making, implementation and institution-building. The workshop we propose will break new ground in the study of informal global governance by focusing on the blind spots of the existing literature: 1) mechanisms of informal governance, 2) weak players in informal global governance, 3) informal interactions among IOs, and 4) informal governance outside IOs, including by non-state actors. We welcome papers that address one or more of these four main research areas as well as on related topics. Papers that combine innovative theoretical arguments with original empirical research are particularly welcome. Methodologically, contributions using comparative case study approaches, statistical analysis, and formal methods are equally welcome. We also value papers that examine the conceptual issues involved in the study of informal governance.

Title Details
The Politics of Informal Governance View Paper Details
Leveraging the Network: The Case of Energy Regulators in the EU View Paper Details
New Approaches to Old Challenges: The Case of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia View Paper Details
Informalization in Global and Regional Organizations: Inward and Outward Dimensions View Paper Details
Informality in the Face of Institutions: The Pathways Framework, the Governance of Energy and the 'Global Nuclear Revival' View Paper Details
The Politics of Informal Governance in International Development View Paper Details
The Domestic Politics of Informal Governance View Paper Details
Informal Coalitions in EU's Security and Defence Policy View Paper Details
Negotiating TTIP: The Impact of Transparency on Informal Working Practices in EU Trade Negotiations View Paper Details
Informal and Formal Practices in EU-Kosovo Relations View Paper Details
Interplay Between Formal and Informal Mechanisms in Implementing Human Rights Treaties: The Case of OSCE Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly View Paper Details
Coalition Formation Along Informal Ties: A Network Model View Paper Details