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This ground-breaking book explores the phenomenon of informal international organizations--weakly-legalized bodies that differ significantly from the formal institutions traditionally relied upon by the global community. It advances a new way of thinking about these organizations, presents new data revealing their extraordinary growth over time and across regions, and offers a novel account explaining why states have embraced them. Roger locates the origins of informality in major shifts occurring within the domestic political arenas of powerful states, explaining how these have projected outwards and reshaped the legal foundations of global governance. The book systematically tests this theory, presents detailed accounts of the forces behind some of the most important institutions governing the global economy, and draws out the policy implications of this account. While informality has allowed the number of multilateral institutions to grow, Roger argues, it has coincided with a decline in their quality, leaving us less prepared for the next global crisis.
List of contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- 1. The Move to Informality
- 2. Conceptualizing and Mapping Informality
- 3. Theorizing Informal Organizations
- 4. Analyzing the Origins of Informality
- 5. Present at the Creation: Establishing the IMF and GATT
- 6. Keeping Governments at Bay: The BCBS and IOSCO
- 7. Clashing Over Competition: ICN Versus WTO
- 8. The Implications of Informality
- Appendix: Building the Database of Informal International Organizations
- References
- Index
About the author
Charles B. Roger is an Assistant Professor at the Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals (IBEI). His research explores the transformations occurring in our system of global governance and how these are shaping--for better or worse--our ability to address cross-border problems. Roger's research has been published in journals such as Global Policy, International Interactions, International Studies Quarterly, International Studies Review, and the Review of International Organizations. His recent books include The Comparative Politics of Transnational Climate Governance (with Liliana Andonova and Thomas Hale) and Transnational Climate Change Governance (with Harriet Bulkeley et al.).
