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.

Contents: Preface 1. Introduction Thomas Christiansen and Christine Neuhold PART I: THEORETICAL AND NORMATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON INFORMAL GOVERNANCE 2. Formal Institutions and Informal Institutional Arrangements Michael Brie and Erhard Stölting 3. Informal Governance and Democratic Theory Hans-Joachim Lauth 4. Informal Politics: The Normative Challenge Christine Reh 5. Informal Institutions and Comparative Politics: A Research Agenda Gretchen Helmke and Steven Levitsky PART II: THE PRACTICE OF INFORMAL GOVERNANCE ACROSS THE GLOBE 6. Informal Governance in the United States: Capitol Hill Networks Roberta Haar 7. Subversive Institutions and Informal Governance in Contemporary Russia Vladimir Gel’man 8. On Informal Politics in East Asia Lowell Dittmer 9. Un-civil Society: The Politics of the ‘Informal People’ Asef Bayat 10. Clientelism, Corruption and Political Cartels: Informal Governance in Southern Europe Jonathan Hopkin PART III: INFORMAL GOVERNANCE AND INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 11. Informal Governance in International Relations Thomas Conzelmann 12. Informal Governance at the United Nations Courtney B. Smith 13. Informal Governance and the G8 Sieglinde Gstöhl 14. Evolving Trade Governance on the Formal–Informal Spectrum: The Case of the World Trade Organization Amrita Narlikar 15. Non-state Actors and Global Informal Governance: The Case of ICANN Jonathan Weinberg 16. Business as Usual? Informal EU Governance and Alternative Methods of Policy-making Otto Holman PART IV: INFORMAL GOVERNANCE AND EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS 17. Formal and Informal Institutions in the EU’s Legislative Process Adrienne Héritier 18. The European Parliament as a Driving Force in Informal Institution-building: The Hard Case of the EP’s Relation with the High Representative for the CFSP Ben Crum 19. Informal Governance and the Decision-making of the Council of Ministers Dorothee Heisenberg 20. Informal Governance in the EU: The European Commission versus the European Parliament Jeffrey Stacey 21. Informal Governance and the Rome Treaties Thomas Gijswijt PART V: INFORMAL GOVERNANCE WITHIN DIFFERENCE POLICY DOMAINS 22. Informal Governance and Networks in EU Foreign Policy Arnout Justaert and Stephan Keukeleire 23. Financial Services Regulation and Informal Governance Alan Hardacre 24. Informal Governance of Emerging Technologies in Africa Matthew Harsh 25. European Economic and Monetary Policy-making through Informal Governance Uwe Puetter 26. Informal Governance in Higher Education Reform: The Bologna Process in Europe Paul Furlong 27. Informal European Asylum Governance in an International Context Maarten Vink and Claudia Engelmann Index