Informal Politics (original) (raw)

This article strives to explain the phenomenon of informality within the political sphere by referring to essential notions of social theory. It argues that there are two kinds of informality: "traditional" informality which is based on a process of traditional Vergemeinschaftung and "modern" informality, based on modern Vergemeinschaftung or social integration. Against that, formal political behaviour must be conceptualised in the context of modern law-based Vergesellschaftung. In order to support these hypotheses, the article refers to central ideas within German social theory, esp. M. Weber, N. Luhmann and J. Habermas, and stresses the necessity of a dialectic approach in the study of political phenomena such as informality and formality.