Formal Institutional Structures Research Articles

The Symptoms of the Shift towards an Authoritarian State in Tanzania’s President John Pombe Magufuli’s rule

In the early 1990s, political changes in Tanzania led to political liberalization and the reintroduction of formal democratic institutional structures. Political pluralism was established under the control of the ruling party of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), which gave it the opportunity to maintain state power, stability within the party and to establish limitations in terms of systemic changes. However, the party’s hegemony was shaken during the last presidential election, where only a slight majority (58%) was won by CCM’s candidate John P. Magufuli. From the moment of taking office as President, he began to implement his electoral postulates. In 2016, Magufuli was appointed the world’s best president by United National Economic and Social Council for tightening and reducing public sector spending. There is no doubt that during the two and a half years of rule, Magufuli introduced significant changes in the governance structures and lives of Tanzanian people. However, his recent methods of governing the state seem to ignore basic human rights, women’s rights, freedom of speech and the press, the independence of courts and respect for the multi-party system in the country.

Forward Feeding in Graduate Medical Education: Results of a National Survey.

"Forward feeding" is defined as the sharing of information regarding learner behaviors and performance outside of formal institutional committee structures. The purpose of this study was to establish baseline opinions and policies of forward feeding in family medicine residency programs. Data for this study were obtained as part of the 2015 CERA Program Directors Fall Survey. Program directors indicated whether they felt that faculty should and do engage in forward feeding. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of various types of information about learners (academic performance, clinical performance, professionalism, physical health, and mental health), reasons for promoting, and concerns regarding forward feeding on a 5-point Likert scale. The overall response rate was 49% (227/461). Most agreed that faculty should (87%) and do (83%) engage in forward feeding. Concerns regarding professionalism and clinical performance were reported as most important to share. The most important reason identified for forward feeding was the early identification of struggling residents, followed by the ability to direct teaching to the resident's specific needs, and improving the quality of feedback. Fear of creating bias was the most commonly cited concern for engaging in forward feeding, followed by fear of violating confidentiality and difficulty maintaining confidentiality. Fear of litigation was the least common concern. Despite concerns, the majority of program directors feel that faculty should and do engage in forward feeding. Our study confirms the importance of clinical performance and professionalism as two important themes of information shared by attendings about residents.

Women Soldiers and Citizenship in Israel: Gendered Encounters with the State by Edna Lomsky-Feder and Orna Sasson-Levi

Reviewed by: Women Soldiers and Citizenship in Israel: Gendered Encounters with the State by Edna Lomsky-Feder and Orna Sasson-Levi Rachel Harris Edna Lomsky-Feder and Orna Sasson-Levi. Women Soldiers and Citizenship in Israel: Gendered Encounters with the State. New York: Routledge, 2017, 2019. Pp. 187. Hardback $155, paper $49.95, ebook $27.48. ISBN 9780415788946, ISBN 9780367264772, ISBN 0415788943. For Jewish women the formative experience of mandatory conscription into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shapes women’s engagement with citizenship. The formal institutional structures of military service provide an opportunity to consider women’s relationship to the state, and at the same time the patriarchal and highly masculine environment inculcates them into a gendered experience. It is this experience, argue the sociologists Edna Lomsky-Feder and Orna Sasson-Levy, that shapes women’s understanding of masculinity and its operation within Israeli society. It teaches women gendered responses that may serve to inform the rest of their adult lives. Through in-depth interviews with 109 women, 10 to 15 years after their discharge, as well as the analysis of the testimony of 20 women who contributed their experiences to the group “Breaking the Silence” (which were compiled into a book), Lomsky-Feder and Sasson-Levy provide a detailed analysis of the ways in which women’s service is a multi-level social contract with the military “that shapes women’s expectations from the state.” (157) What their research shows is that women’s expectations and experiences are shaped not only by the roles and duties they perform, but also their social class, ethnic origins, and religious observance levels. Thus their analysis provides an intersectional reading of women’s service that challenges many of the previous dominant narratives about women in the IDF. In their analysis they identified five groups, across two axes; traditional and non-traditional military roles, and prestigious and non-prestigious duties. What emerges from their analysis are divisions between traditionally female roles of nurturing and serving as helpmate to male soldiers—such as the low-prestige assignments as secretaries and clerks, or more prestigious positions such as education and welfare officers—in which women perform femininity. And by contrast, since the opening up of combat and field positions in the past twenty years, women who serve in less traditionally female roles—including high-prestige roles as border patrol guards and [End Page 227] pilots, or lower prestige roles as technical staff, such as mechanics in highly male environments—have described themselves performing masculinity. In addition the authors noted that fields such as intelligence have a neutral gendered tradition, and their importance in contemporary warfare places these duties among the highest prestige roles. Yet within these different groups, what Lomsky-Feder and Sasson-Levy observed was the importance that ethno-social class played in framing women’s experiences. For example, women from the country’s periphery, who typically come from lower-income, more traditional, and often ethnic communities, were likely to be the first generation of women to go into the army. They viewed serving as an opportunity to leave home and see the world, granting them a degree of independence and social movement that provided both respectability and the opportunity to translate the capital they gained in the army into subsequent professional success. By contrast, women from the country’s center who were generally middle or upper-middle class, from an Ashkenazi and more secular background, whose parents both male and female had served in the military, experienced low-prestige jobs such as secretary negatively, finding the role to be humiliating and beneath their dignity. It would prove to be an aberration in their lives and was forgotten afterwards, as one woman reported she was not even sure her husband knew what she had done while in the IDF. While the women in these traditionally female roles identified ethnic differences between other females serving (often in prejudiced ways) and among other males serving (who they tended to view as needier), those who served in intelligence appeared color-blind, viewing the military as a melting-pot of social difference. In fact, from their research, the scholars show that those who serve in intelligence were mostly serving...

Continuing in the shadows of colonialism: The educational experiences of the African Child in Ghana

In this paper, we draw on a recent ethnographic study in a rural primary school to illustrate the ways that vestiges of colonialism remain deeply imbricated in contemporary schooling in Ghana. In reference to the history of education, we use evidence from this study to argue that colonial constructions of the African child are reproduced within schooling. We highlight the significance of schooling for the production of learner subjectivities and point to the ways that the institution of schooling and its everyday life continue to echo and re-instantiate colonial constructions of the African child. Drawing on the voices and experiences of students and teachers we illustrate the ways that formal schooling continues to work to devalue indigenous knowledge, to regulate and discipline African children and produce their inferiorisation through their education. We specifically highlight the gender inflections in the institutional routines of schooling. Following a brief introduction to the historical context of education in Ghana, we outline the research study and then the theoretical position upon which our analysis is based. We develop the analysis along three major discursive themes starting with the formal institutional structures of the school, highlighting the ways its disciplinary boundaries structure age and gender relations. We then turn to the curriculum and pedagogic practices that shape student understandings of what constitutes legitimate knowledge and the processes of learning. In the final theme, we examine the language of instruction and the ways that this produces exclusions and vilifies indigenous languages and the cultures that are expressed through it. In the conclusion, we draw the key points together to reflect on the extent to which contemporary schooling in Ghana sustains the production of the African child framed in the colonial era. Finally, we suggest that the educational experience of students offers an important starting point for efforts in decolonizing the school and curriculum.

Towards a collaborative approach between practitioners and academics: insights from an academic–Fairtrade collaboration

Partnership approaches have been identified as crucial for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. In the context of an emerging literature on cross-sector partnerships, and more specifically reflections on how academic institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) create effective and mutually beneficial research collaborations, this paper draws on the experiences of a particular partnership between academic researchers and a Fair Trade organization partnership to contribute to building an understanding of how collaborative research can be achieved more effectively. A set of collaborative outputs resulted from the experience, including best practices for engagement and a training tool. It has contributed to changes in some of Fairtrade International’s ways of working with researchers. We found that we had more in common than what divided us in terms of skills and attitudes to knowledge, which is an important factor in the success of our relationship. Rooted in reflective practice, our project highlights the importance of trust and relationship building but also recognition of formal agreements and institutional structures to sustain the relationship.

Workshop 4 report: Criteria for successful collaboration

This paper synthesizes evidence from Workshop 4 ‘Criteria for successful collaboration’ of the 15th International Conference on Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport. This workshop focused on collaboration between public and private organisations as a key dimension of public transport governance. Collaborative arrangements can in some cases be a complementary approach to owner-instruction relationships (when allowed within the legal framework), overcoming or at least addressing some of the “critical interfaces” and problems that “fall between the cracks” in formal institutional structures. Collaboration between organisations with different resources and aims is often crucial for the ability to identify, develop and implement efficient solutions to problems that exceed traditional divisions of responsibility. It can foster trust (trusting partnerships) and joint capacity for innovation; and it can take place in formalized partnerships or more informal networks.Papers at the workshop addressed both positive and negative experiences of collaboration in Scandinavia, Brasil, Chile, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Australia from an empirical perspective, but several more theoretical papers considered the place of collaboration within wider governance frameworks. The workshop discussions led to a clearer definition of collaboration, and the formulation of key lessons on collaboration as a critical dimension in the interaction between the organisations that drive the development of current public transport operations and management, and future public transport improvements.

Islands of democracy

From a comparative political perspective, island jurisdictions stand out as having exceptionally democratic regimes in comparison with mainland or continental polities. Irrespective of their geographical location, levels of economic development or constitutional status (sovereign or nonsovereign), with only a few exceptions, island jurisdictions around the world have democratic political institutions. While some scholars have explained this relationship on the basis of colonial history, international political dynamics or the geographical isolation and remoteness that stem from being an island, others have argued that the smallness of islands explains the correlation, meaning that size is actually the causal factor that explains the prevalence of democratic governance. In this paper, an original account of the relationship between islandness and democracy is provided, foregrounding the informal political dynamics that can be observed in island territories around the world. To do this, the specific nature, dynamics and varieties of democratic governance in island jurisdictions are examined. Most island nations have adopted the political‐institutional framework of former colonial powers or metropolitan states, and these have only rarely been modified to suit the (small) island context. Yet due to the greater social intimacy and interconnectedness of island societies, these formal institutional frameworks are likely to be complemented or overshadowed by a set of powerful informal political dynamics, which means that a large part of the political process is conducted outside of the official political channels. These informal politics have mixed effects on the quality of democratic governance, as face‐to‐face relations offer both opportunities and drawbacks for democratic transparency and accountability. The last analytical section of the paper examines the interaction between formal institutional structures and the prevalent informal political dynamics in island territories, and argues that this interplay perhaps provides the best explanation for the survival of democratic institutions in island territories.

Experiences of Chinese immigrant women following "Zuo Yue Zi" in British Columbia.

To describe Chinese women's experiences with "zuo yue zi" in British Columbia, Canada. Women born in China and Taiwan are increasingly immigrating to westernised countries. Many women choose to follow traditional Chinese postpartum practices, also called "zuo yue zi." Few studies have examined women's use of traditional practices in western countries. The study used a qualitative descriptive design. We recruited 13 mothers who were: aged 19 or older, immigrants from mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan in the last 5years, and caring for infants born in the previous 6weeks. Semistructured interviews were conducted in Mandarin, translated into English, transcribed and analysed using inductive content analysis. The core theme was Chinese women's novel encounters with "zuo yue zi." The women's expectations of "zuo yue zi" were acquired through birth experiences or interactions with family and friends. The participants struggled with implementing traditional practices because social support and formal institutional structures were lacking. They modified their expectations about "zuo yue zi." Factors affecting their practices were catalysts and deterrents. Catalysts included help from Chinese family members, friends and informed healthcare providers. Deterrents included unregulated paid helpers, uninformed care providers, financial constraints and structural limitations in their new environments. Chinese immigrant women struggled to modify and implement traditional practices in their adopted country when they encountered financial constraints, unregulated paid helpers and varying support from health care providers. Some postpartum women following "zuo yue zi" believed that the practice would prevent chronic illness and strengthen their intrafamily relationships. Immigrant mothers require nursing support to follow traditional postpartum practices. Nurses can advocate on patients' behalf to increase care providers' knowledge about "zuo yue zi" and public awareness for necessary regulated institutional structures.

Researching religious authority in education: Political theology, elites’ theory and the double nexus

This article provides a theoretical frame to structure methodological approaches to examining religious authority in education. It does so by examining the complex, overlapping relationship between secular and religious authority and the institutional power of education evident through responses to issues of cultural expression. The political theologies research examined ongoing tensions – accommodations, conflicts and resolutions – of religious authority with secular political systems, legal frameworks and institutions of educational replication. Through the data it became clear that education – in the broadest sense, as well as in its formal institutional structures – provided a mediating role for power exchanges between religious and political authority, which was especially evident in responses of religious leaders to issues of cultural and self-expression. Through interviews with senior religious leaders and authority figures in England – technically religious ‘elites’ – the findings provide insights into a ‘double nexus’ conceptual framework for researching religious authority in education: first, the internal nexus within religious traditions and, second, the external nexus of religious communities with secular, legal and political authority. Theoretically and methodologically, this represents a critical synthesis of political theology and elites’ theory, providing as yet underexplored possibilities for researching religious authority in education.

Security at home: How private securitization practices increase state and capitalist control

The impact of the security state is not only seen in the political and spatial restrictions on public space and the public sphere or inscribed in militarized national borders and cities, but also in the increasing penetration of the domestic and private realm of home. These securitization practices and how they work can be exposed through an ethnographic analysis of formal institutional structures as well as the affective, discursive and bodily practices that make up and regulate everyday life. Examining securitization as a scalar set of spatial practices and social processes that interlock through a desire for ‘security’ reveals how securitization is able to keep a political stranglehold not only on poor, homeless and marginalized people who are traditionally perceived to be at risk and the target of these controls, but also on middle-class social preferences, political actions, shared feelings, and daily movements. This paper explores five of these sociospatial securitization practices including spatial enclosure, surveillance, private governance, rules and regulations, and financialization of everyday life that constrict and then redirect middle-class home life in private housing regimes in New York City.

Legislative amendments and informal politics in the European Union: A text reuse approach

The ability to amend legislative proposals introduced by the Commission is central to legislative process in the European Union. Despite this, very few attempts have been made to capture and explain such amendments. This study addresses this gap in the literature by considering the changes between the Commission’s proposals and the final legislative outcome passed by the European Union. It does so by implementing minimum edit distance algorithms to measure changes between legislative proposals and outcomes. The findings suggest that legislative amendments are determined by the formal and informal institutional structures in which negotiations take place and characteristics of the proposal itself. Our conclusions contribute to the ongoing debate on the nature and distribution of legislative powers in the European Union.

Patterns of urban governance: A sequence analysis of long-term institutional change in six Canadian cities

ABSTRACTHow do the institutional structures of urban policymaking develop over time? To answer this question, scholars have often focused on one of three contexts: the city in which a set of policy institutions exists, the higher-order government with legislative authority over those institutions, or the policy domain in which a policy task is administered. Few studies have compared the relative importance of these contexts for understanding the long-term development of urban policy institutions. In this article, I compare long-term sequences of urban policy institutions, understood as the historical development of the formal institutional structures in which urban policies are developed and administered, across six Canadian cities, three provinces, and five policy domains. I use optimal matching methods to compare the sequences, and I find that patterns of resemblance among the sequences are most clearly sorted by policy domain, with shared province playing an important secondary role. These findings point toward a new research agenda for urban governance scholars, one less focused on individual cities and more attuned to the ways that cities operate as actors and sites within broader policy fields that operate not only across the boundaries of individual cities, but across the boundaries of higher-order governments as well.

The Influence of Community Size and Location on Different Dimensions of Vulnerability: a case study of Australian coastal communities

ABSTRACTCoastal communities are part of the Australian identity but little is known about their characteristics and their long-term prosperity prospects. Increased migration to coastal areas and increased exposure to extreme climatic events indicates a need for social and economic data to inform socio-ecological systems planning. Here, we undertake a geo-spatial analysis to develop a typology of Australian coastal communities and assess relative vulnerability to climate-driven environmental change for a range of social and economic indicators. The aim of this study is to understand how the vulnerability of Australian coastal communities varies with geographic location or community size, and in comparison to other community types. Results show that both the population size and location of a coastal community matter and that coastal communities overall are more vulnerable on some socio-economic dimensions to climate-driven environmental change than their rural equivalents. However, results also demonstrate that the smallest coastal communities are strong in some important aspects of the human, social and financial domains, putting them in a good position to deal with some changes. Scale-appropriate and context-specific social policies are needed to address identified socio-economic vulnerabilities, supported by a range of formal and informal institutional structures, such as strategies to improve education and female workforce participation, and encourage participation in volunteering to increase human and social capital.

DISTRICT COUNCILS – BETWEEN COMMUNITY AND ADMINISTRATION: THE CASE OF POZNAN

Communities in cities were transformed significantly in the second half of the twentieth century. Weaker social ties and growing individualism have been combined with the growing role of formal institutional structures. Local governments became increasingly dominated by central structures. Decentralisation emerged as an attempt to reform this tendency. This article presents and analyses district councils in Poznan in respect of their success in promoting public involvement, accountability, and efficiency of public services delivery. It is argued that their impact on accountability, public control of authority, public involvement, and public activity is not significant. Instead, growing distrust of district councillors towards the city can be observed. Moreover, despite certain minor differences in administration costs, the structure of districts’ expenses is relatively homogeneous which may lead to the conclusion that district councils do not help to adjust the services to the varied inhabitants’ preferences.

Environmental Entitlements: Institutional Influence on Mangrove Social-Ecological Systems in Northern Vietnam

Environment and development issues are complex and interdependent. Institutions underpinning state, private sector and civil society actions at various levels must address complexity to ensure social-ecological system integrity. However, responses often operate at only one governance level, with limited interactions with other levels, restricting their ability to support communities who depend on natural resources for their livelihoods. This paper explores institutional factors influencing household entitlements to mangrove system provisioning goods on Vietnam’s northern coast. The environmental entitlements framework is used to identify: (1) current formal and informal institutional structures relating to mangrove systems; (2) the influence of state, private sector and non-governmental organisation actors at various levels; and (3) how actions occurring at and among various levels of governance shape mangrove system entitlements at the local level. Employing a case study approach, this research utilises qualitative methods and a multi-level governance approach to understand prevailing institutional contexts. Results indicate that reforms occurring within weak regulatory frameworks led to the concentration of power at the meso level, reducing the endowments of marginalized households. Market forces facilitated inequality and environmental degradation, negatively impacting household entitlements. Finally, a lack of formally recognised civil society constrained household capabilities to participate in mangrove planning. Mangrove dependent households must be integrated into mangrove planning at the local level, as processes at higher institutional levels affect household environmental entitlements and threaten sustainable outcomes. Ensuring views from the local level feed into the multi-level governance process is vital.

Hope as a Critical Resource for Small Scale Farmers in Mpumalanga

I contrast formal institutional structures that are part of water resources management policy and practice with more fluid ‘outside’ spaces that I claim are more apt for participatory engagement around food production. I link these ideas to a discussion on hope. I make three distinct contributions. First the paper expands on the theoretical concerns of the Capability Approach by bringing to the fore the linkages between subjective well-being and emotions. The paper thus connects the Capability Approach and discourses of affect and emotions explicit. The Capability Approach (CA) is a helpful entry point into the idea of hope in particular and emotions in general. Second, I claim that emotions are of public concern and that they are embedded structurally. In these spaces the dimension of power is crucial in determining the nature of the emotions that are experienced, and there is a connection between hope and power. I argue that emotions mediate and inform social action and are a function of social processes. Third, I affirm that in the essentially technical and masculinised world of water, rural women farmers are more likely to experience positive feelings, such as self-esteem, hope, pride and dignity, in informal ‘outside’ spaces. Within the context of an ethics of care, the idea of ‘particularism’ places value on concrete circumstances and individual experience and the incorporation of emotions and compassion into a social justice discourse. I propose that hope be considered amongst a range of mental states contributing to valuable and complex social functionings that are relevant for assessing poverty and human development. Looking at emotional life might help answer the question: what makes people do what they do – and whether and in what ways they take on (or do not take on) board opportunities that present themselves? The article concludes that hope is a mental state that helps command commodities and helps achieve functionings. As such hope is an input as important as seeds and fertilizer for small-scale farming.

Symbolic power in diplomatic practice: Matters of style in Brussels

This paper investigates the workings of symbolic power in diplomatic practice. At the level of empirical observation, it focuses on the intangible and incalculable ‘feel for the game’ that distinguishes a well-informed and relaxed insider from an ill-informed and ill-at-ease outsider in European Union (EU) diplomatic circles in Brussels. By highlighting the play of social resources, such as reputation, presence, poise, and composure in these circles, I examine EU diplomacy from an angle – symbolic power – that is often overlooked in the existing work on that field. Conceptually, the analysis focuses on the role of informal social resources rather than formal institutional structures in diplomatic practice. It also outlines the potential synergies between the study of diplomacy in international relations (IR) on the one hand and geography, anthropology, and sociology on the other. The paper thereby advances the analytical toolbox of diplomatic studies and practice theory. Such conceptual sharpening is needed, especially now that diplomacy is becoming more transnational and less linked to the foreign ministries of states.

Incentives and Norms in Anticorruption Reform

This paper examines corruption in the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS). Corruption is framed as an exchange problem between a public official and the state. New Institutional Economics suggests such problems can be overcome using formal and informal institutional structures (e.g. laws and norms). Behavioural economics emphasises that norms may render formal rules less effective. The role of norms in fostering corruption and the constraints on the effectiveness of formal institutions in general and in the ACBPS in particular highlights the importance of addressing the role of norms in anticorruption reform. Current and proposed ACBPS reforms emphasising formal structural incentives need to more explicitly consider and outline the intended effect of reforms upon norms, and/or the expected relationship between the new formal institutional structures and the norms of the organisation.

Market Analysis of Cowpeas-Leaves: An Indigenous Vegetable in North West Province, South Africa

The study uses North West Province as a case study to make a market analysis of pumpkin leaves as an indigenous vegetable in South Africa. The study utilizes an adapted Porter's model to address: threat to enter, competitive buying power, supply, and substitutes to the production/harvesting, marketing, and consumption of cowpea-leaves. The regression analysis shows that the adapted Porter's model used in the study is appropriate in analysing the competitiveness of the marketing of cowpea-leaves in the study area. The model rejected the hypothesis that no significant relationship exists between socio-economic characteristics and marketing of cowpea- leaves. The study found that there are no formal or informal institutional structures available to the marketers of cowpea-leaves in the study area. The study concludes that, should the income of the current households consuming cowpea-leaves increase, they are likely to substitute other types of vegetables for this vegetable.

Re-balancing the G-20 from Efficiency to Legitimacy: The 3G Coalition and the Practice of Global Governance

This article contributes to the literature on global governance, legitimacy, and small states through a detailed analysis of the Global Governance Group. It examines in particular the operational impact and wider conceptual implications of the 3G's collective diplomatic efforts on the Group of 20. By engaging in a reconfigured form of informal multilateralism, the article finds that the 3G has been and is capable of shaping the global agenda with respect to the G-20 in a way that is both more inclusive and connected with existing institutions, especially the United Nations. Through this initiative, this group has effectively recalibrated the existing narrative about small states, the G-20, and global governance--shifting it from the paradigm of efficiency to one of legitimacy. Keywords: 3G, G-20, global governance, informal groups, small states. Informal Global Governance As new centers of power mobilize and old institutions fall behind the curve of change, the trend in world politics has been for countries to substitute, bypass, or marginalize established institutions of global governance in favor of engagement with new forms of cooperative institutional arrangements--in short, toward informality in global governance. International relations theory has traditionally been uneasy with forms of informal global governance. (1) Realists have dismissed them as irrelevant given that powerful members can go it alone, and neoliberal institutionalists are uncertain of what to make of these forums where formal institutional structures or binding agreements are not apparent. (2) Students of rational design see the advance of centralized rather than disaggregated models of international organizations. (3) Yet this trend toward informality is not only important for extending the debate about the manner by which cooperation can be secured in the global political economy after hegemony, (4) but the manner by which small states attempt to influence bigger ones. Marked by less hierarchy and greater flexibility, informal global governance of small states is an admittedly fuzzy concept, and explaining its theoretical relevance has therefore been a challenge for dominant international relations paradigms. Moreover, the relationship between conceptualization and issue-specific international practice beyond the domain of the UN Security Council in select crisis situations has not been extensively explored. Notwithstanding Jochen Prantl's call in his 2005 International Organization article for extended studies of the dynamics between internal arrangements and formal international organizations, there has been scant research that explores the use by smaller states of informal groups to increase their leverage in the global political economy and so increase our understanding of power, legitimacy and change. (5) Thus, in functional terms, there is some considerable space for specialized and more nuanced studies. Although greater attention is devoted to multilateralism light, the focus has been to some considerable extent on the mechanisms used by bigger and stronger countries, not as tools by coalitions of the weak. (6) A major strand of literature that traces forms of informal governance does so in a mode of analysis that privileges clubs of power where informality allows for easier backroom negotiations over contested issue areas as well as the implementation of tough regulations that are monitored in the privacy of informal groups, whether on a permanent or temporary ad hoc basis. (7) Well-known groupings such as the Group of 8 (G8), the World Trade Organization Green Rooms, and the Middle East Quartet on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are reflections of these informal groups, which indeed can be effective at achieving their narrow objective of furthering global cooperation. Yet although we have become accustomed to the idea that these contracting parties should have the requisite resources to back up their influence at the table, this approach should not limit our inclination or ability to perceive of alternative arrangements. …