Making Cooperation Work: Informal Governance in the EU and Beyond
28 Pages Posted: 19 Jul 2010 Last revised: 11 Oct 2010
Date Written: 2010
Abstract
This article develops a theory of informal governance – uncodified rules of behavior running parallel to formal treaty rules – in international institutions. It builds on, and develops, rational institutionalist approaches in International Relations that explore how provisions for flexibility allow states sustain cooperation in the face of change in their strategic environment. The central argument advanced in this article is that in order to maintain a mutually beneficial depth of cooperation, governments devise, in parallel with formal rules, a “norm of discretion” prescribing that governments facing unmanageable pressure for defection be accommodated. Because some governments face incentives to exploit this norm, the task of adjudicating its use is delegated to a government that stands to lose from excessive accommodation. The norm consequently manifests itself in practices of informal governance as states collectively depart from formal rules in order to exercise discretion. The resulting mix of informal and formal governance is functional in that it renders the institution dynamic and therefore adaptable to contingent domestic demands for cooperation. The plausibility of the theory is probed using the example of European economic integration, but it can be extended to international organizations more broadly.
Keywords: international cooperation, informal governance, flexibility, norms
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
Architects of Stability? International Cooperation Among Financial Supervisors
-
One Hundred and Thirty Years of Central Bank Cooperation: A Bis Perspective
-
Central Banks: Between Internationalisation and Domestic Political Control
By Harold James
-
Innovation and Regulation in the Wake of Financial Crises in Italy (1880s-1930s)
By Alfredo Gigliobianco, Claire Giordano, ...
-
An Organizational-Cybernetic Approach to Design of International Institutions