International Handbook on Informal Governance


Book Description

ÔThis volume provides a welcome overview of the diverse ways in which informal practices and norms shape policy in national states, the European Union, and international relations. The wide range of cases that feature in the volume point to the normative and substantive importance of informality. This volume is a valuable contribution to a fascinating and under-researched topic.Õ Ð Gary Marks, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, US and VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands Acknowledging that governance relies not only on formal rules and institutions but to a significant degree also on informal practices and arrangements, this unique Handbook examines and analyses a wide variety of theoretical, conceptual and normative perspectives on informal governance. The insights arising from this focus on informal governance are discussed from various disciplinary perspectives, within different policy domains, and in a number of regional and global contexts. This Handbook is an important contribution that will put informal governance firmly on the map of academic scholarship with its review of the range of the different uses and effects of informal arrangements across the globe. Bringing together multidisciplinary contributions on informal governance arrangements, this Handbook will appeal to postgraduate students in political science and scholars within the field of political science and global governance.







Informal Governance in World Politics


Book Description

Characterizes the three distinct types of informal governance and provides a normative assessment of them.




Non-State Actors and Global Informal Governance - The Case of ICANN.


Book Description

This chapter will appear as part of the forthcoming INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK ON INFORMAL GOVERNANCE (Thomas Christiansen & Christine Neuhold, eds.). It examines the history of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN. ICANN is an unusual beast. When it came into existence, it faced legitimacy challenges: some were unconvinced that it was an appropriate wielder of the power it claimed, that they had any obligation to cooperate in its governance functions, or that they should comply with its pronouncements. I argue in this chapter that ICANN's key move in establishing its legitimacy was its expansion and bureaucratization. ICANN initially positioned itself as an informal technical coordination body in the tradition of the Internet Engineering Task Force: today, it has shifted to adopt the appearance, processes and culture of a modern large bureaucracy. In seeking to be accepted by business enterprises and governments, it structured itself so that it looks like a business enterprise or government. It negotiated successfully with influential players as to the goals it should pursue, and reframed its structure and culture so as to conform to their images of what a successful and legitimate organization ought to look like.




The Informal Economy in Global Perspective


Book Description

This book critically engages with how formal and informal mechanisms of governance are used across the world. Specifically, it analyzes how the governance mechanisms of formal institutions are questioned, challenged and renegotiated through informal institutions. Whilst there is an emerging body of scholarship focusing on informal practices, this is scattered across a number of disciplines. This edited collection, by contrast, fosters a dialogue on these issues, moving away from monodisciplinary and normative methodologies that view informal institutions and practices simply as temporary economic phenomena. In doing so, the authors provide a wider understanding of how governance is composed of both the formal and the informal, which complement each other but are also constantly in competition. This novel approach will appeal to social scientists, economists, policy-makers, practitioners, and anyone else willing to widen their understanding of how governance works.




Global Governance in a World of Change


Book Description

Global governance has come under increasing pressure since the end of the Cold War. In some issue areas, these pressures have led to significant changes in the architecture of governance institutions. In others, institutions have resisted pressures for change. This volume explores what accounts for this divergence in architecture by identifying three modes of governance: hierarchies, networks, and markets. The authors apply these ideal types to different issue areas in order to assess how global governance has changed and why. In most issue areas, hierarchical modes of governance, established after World War II, have given way to alternative forms of organization focused on market or network-based architectures. Each chapter explores whether these changes are likely to lead to more or less effective global governance across a wide range of issue areas. This provides a novel and coherent theoretical framework for analysing change in global governance. This title is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.




The Origins of Informality


Book Description

"The Origins of Informality explores the phenomenon of informal international organizations. These bodies are involved in governing many of the most important issues we currently face, and differ significantly from the highly-legalized, formal organizations we have traditionally relied on. But, despite their evident importance, they remain poorly understood. This book develops a new approach to thinking about these puzzling institutions, presents new data revealing their extraordinary growth over time, and develops a novel theory about why states are creating them. The theory explains how states form preferences over the informality of international organization, and how the final designs get chosen through often contentious bargaining processes. This theory of institutional design then informs a more dynamic account of the rise of informality. This account explains how major shifts occurring within the domestic political arenas of powerful states-especially growing polarization and the rise of the regulatory state-have been projected outwards and reshaped the legal foundations of global governance. The book systematically tests this theory, quantitative and qualitatively, and presents detailed accounts of the forces behind some of the most important institutions in the global economy. It concludes with an analysis of the effectiveness of informal organizations, finding that many are likely to be less capable of addressing the complex challenges we presently confront"--




Handbook on Governance in International Organizations


Book Description

Required for peace and security, economic governance, sustainable development and humanitarian support, International Organisations (IOs) are central to the structure of global governance. Introducing the importance of governance in IOs, this Handbook addresses the collective challenges and synthesises the expertise of global or regional representativeness for international cooperation.




Transformation and Development


Book Description

This open access book features various studies on democratization, transformation, political and economic development, and security issues in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) geographical region and beyond. Written by experts and academics in the fields of human rights, security, transformation and development, particularly in post-soviet and communist countries, it examines the status quo of regime development in various member states of the OSCE; their economic, security and human rights performance; institutional reforms and transformations and the challenges that these countries and their societies face, including the USA, Canada, Germany, Macedonia, Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. This is the 2019 edition of this Compilation Series of the OSCE Academy. The OSCE works to promote Minority Protection, Security, Democratic Development and Human Rights guided by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and to enhance securitization and development policies in Eurasia, Europe, Central Asia and North America. Since being founded in 1993, the OSCE and its agencies and departments have attracted a wealth of academic research in various fields and disciplines, ranging from economic development and election monitoring to enhancing global principles of human rights and securitization. About the OSCE Academy in Bishkek: Founded in 2004, the Academy offers post-Doc research fellowships and runs two Master Degrees, one in Economic Governance and Development and one in Politics and Security in Central Asia. The Academy"s regular academic programs and conference contributes to developing human professional capital in the sectors of particular importance for Central Asian states and societies. The Academy's graduates and visiting researchers contribute to economic development, governance and policy-making in Central Asia and beyond the OSCE region. Website: http://www.osce-academy.net/en/about/




The Trilateral Commission and Global Governance


Book Description

This book provides the first analysis of the Trilateral Commission and its role in global governance and contemporary diplomacy. In 1973, David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski founded the Trilateral Commission. Involving highly influential people from business and politics in the US, Western Europe, and Japan, the Commission was soon preceived as constituting an embryonic or even shadow world government. As the first researcher to have accessed the Commission’s archives, the author argues that this study demonstrates that global governance and international diplomacy should be considered a product of overlapping elite networks that merge informal and formal spheres across national borders. This work has three immediate aims: to trace the background, origins, purposes, characteristics, and modus operandi of the Commission; to investigate the elite aspect of the Commission and how this related to democracy; and to demonstrate how the Commission contributed to diplomatic practices and policy-formulation at national and international levels. The overall purpose of this book is to evaluate the significance of the Trilateral Commission, with particular focus on the implications of its activities on the way we understand decision-making processes and diplomacy in modern, democratic societies. This book will be of much interest to students of the Cold War, US foreign policy, diplomacy studies, and IR in general