Informal Governance and Crisis

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

Joseph P. Helou, Abel Polese

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781040443415
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Public Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• Acknowledgement
• Introduction: Everyday informality and governance dynamics in crisis situations and beyond
• Informality and survival in times of crises: The role of the Quadripartite security committee in wartime Beirut
• Crises, labour market and informality in Brazil: The Covid-19 shock in the light of past dynamics
• ‘Made in Kyrgyzstan is gold!’ The rise of the informal Kyrgyzstani apparel industry
• Migrants in the throes of multiple crises: Fragmented state authority, informal networks and forced (im)mobilities in Libya
• Speculating about the migration crisis: acting from above and below on the Canary Islands route
• Informality and insecurity in the Sahel: Unravelling the hybrid political orders of Northern Mali and Northern Niger
• There's nothing more permanent than temporary solutions: The solar panel transition and everyday coping in Lebanon's multi-dimensional crisis since 2020
• Index