Informal institutions, such as corruption, patronage, and clientelism, are pervasive and policy-determining in many countries, especially in what is referred to as the Global South. These informal institutions and governance systems can be so strong as to become the prevailing ones, functioning sometimes in parallel with and sometimes through the tools and processes of formal systems.
For these informal institutions to function and persist, the literature has identified a combination of enabling factors. There might, for example, be widespread acceptance and normalization of informal practices and systems, as they may respond to specific needs or established understandings of citizen-state interactions. The state might be organized to benefit particularistic interests, checks and balances might be weak or deliberately misused, or state institutions might operate in more personalistic rather than neutral ways.
Whatever the specific configuration, artificial intelligence stands to disrupt longstanding practices of citizen-state interaction and informal governance. This panel calls for scholars studying informal systems and practices—including corruption, clientelism, patronage, and nepotism—to examine how these important informal capacities of the state are being interrupted, weakened, strengthened, or transformed by artificial intelligence. How does AI alter the actors, relationships, resources, and practices through which informal governance operates? And how are formal state capacities changing as a consequence?
We especially welcome qualitative studies, and encourage studies at the subnational levels.
