The evolution of global governance has increasingly highlighted the role of informal intergovernmental organizations in addressing critical security challenges. However, thus far, mapping exercises have largely overlooked informal solutions tailored to combat maritime insecurity at large. Moreover, much remains unknown over how informality is contingent on functional attributions of territoriality (or lack of thereof). This paper takes on such a gap and uses the G7++ Friends of the Gulf of Guinea (G7++ FoGG) to highlight the steady pursuit of informal cooperation in the maritime domain. It begins by reviewing the core underpinnings of informal multilateralism and presenting the case of the G7++ FoGG as an informal coalition focused on combating piracy, armed robbery, and other illicit activities in the Gulf of Guinea. However, despite its flexibility and operational appeal, its non-formal nature has also led to questions in terms of accountability, sustainability, and embeddedness in longstanding regional practices. This paper explores the operational dynamics of the G7++ FoGG and discusses its complementary role vis-a-vis a overlapping supply of multilateral solutions with the aim of unpacking the fracturing implications of maritime informal multilateralism and expanding the gamut of frameworks worthy of further comparative research.

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informal intergovernamental organizations,maritime security,Gulf of Guinea,piracy,regional security,global governance

• Political Science - Social Sciences