Informal Governance and Crisis: How Invisible, Everyday Tactics of Survival Affect, Reshape and Redesign Policymaking and Governance

This book examines the impact of crises on people’s lives by walking readers through several case studies from Mali, Niger, Kyrgyzstan, Brazil, Lebanon, Libya and several escape routes and entry points, such as the Canary Islands, into the European Union. It conceptualizes crises as events that disrupt political, social and economic orders, thus breeding ad hoc people-led solutions. These informal people-led coping strategies re-define existing social systems, challenge political orders and transcend the pre-existing economic conventions. The book shows how an increase in the volume and scope of informal practices, in addition to the repetition of these practices over time, culminate in the rise of new modes of governance. It reveals that these new governance dynamics can supplant the state, defy state rules and/or complement state capacities. The analyses and reflections in this book provide policy makers with valuable insights to deal with governance in post-crises situations, while recognizing the role of informality in this process.

This book is intended for students, researchers and scholars of migration studies, political science, and international relations. It also offers valuable perspectives for policymakers and practitioners working in the fields of governance, crisis management, and social development.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.

Joseph P. Helou is Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs in the Department of Political and International Studies at the Lebanese American University. His research interests include informality, the political economy of state and informal governance, crisis politics, everyday practices, elites, sectarianism, plural societies, and the politics of the global south.

Abel Polese works at Dublin City University. His main research focus is informal governance in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He is also engaged in debates on open science and science management and is the author of The SCOPUS Diaries and the (il)logics of Academic Survival: A Short Guide to Design Your Own Strategy and Survive Bibliometrics, Conferences, and Unreal Expectations in Academia.