Democracy Questions Informal Global Governance1

Abstract

Practices of informal governance have become more frequent in the last decades, and several scholars have highlighted its positive effects to address the shortcomings of global governance. We discuss this trend from the perspective of the debate of democratic theory regarding the concentration of power. We explore mechanisms that evolved to deal with the concentration of power at the level of modern nation-states: the separation of powers, citizen vigilance, and deliberation. These ideas are treated as challenges for informal global governance. We call for an innovative dialogue between democratic theory and the literature on informal international governance, moving the discussion beyond the debate on the democratic deficit at the global level.