Forms of informality: Identifying informal governance in the European Union

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Abstract
Informal governance has become a major form of public sector intervention into society and economy, but rather than being a single instrument, informal governance actually contains a number of different instruments and forms of intervention. This paper discusses the role of informal governance in the European Union and differentiates among the various forms of informal governance used. The variety of these instruments illustrates the importance of understanding the consequences of each and the existence even of contradictions among the forms. It further develops criteria for assessing those forms of intervention and focuses on questions of efficiency and accountability of informal governance.