Governance Below the Legal Threshold: De-Facto Binding Power and the Erosion of Accountability in International Law

This paper examines the growing phenomenon of governance practices that operate below formal legal thresholds yet produce de-facto binding effects in international law. It analyzes how informal instruments, soft law mechanisms, and hybrid regulatory arrangements increasingly shape state behavior while evading traditional accountability frameworks. Focusing on areas such as global health governance, EU conditionality, and hybrid diplomacy, the paper argues that the proliferation of such mechanisms contributes to an erosion of legal responsibility and democratic oversight. The analysis highlights structural accountability gaps and calls for a more precise legal and normative assessment of de-facto binding governance practices. This paper is also available on SSRN. The Zenodo version serves as an open-access archival reference.