American Empire and the Political Economy of Global Finance

LEO PANITCH is the Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and Distinguished Research Professor at York University, Toronto, Canada, and the co-editor of the Socialist Register.MARTIJN KONINGS is currently a researcher at York University, Toronto, Canada.

'Panitch and Konings do a marvellous job in bringing together a set of innovative and rigorous chapters that throw critical light on the obscure and complex nature of the American Empire and its role in shaping the landscape of contemporary capitalism. This book is essential reading in understanding how the world works.' - Susanne Soederberg, Canada Research Chair, Global Development Studies, Queen's University, Canada 'This work, written by some of the world's finest scholars on the topic, breaks new ground by demonstrating how finance is anchored in the social structure of the United States in profound and often unique ways. This takes the book far beyond routine assessments of how a dominant political and economic power translates its superiority into financial clout; compared to Europe, let alone the rest of the world, American capitalism also connects a wide variety of interests directly into the financial system. If Gramsci once said that in the United States hegemony grows directly in the factory, this collection demonstrates that it is also directly translated into hegemony in the global financial system. Are we now witness to its demise? At a time of profound financial disturbance, no student of global political economy can afford to ignore this eminent collection.' - Kees van der Pijl, Professor of International Relations, University of Sussex, UK, and author of Global Rivalries from the Cold War to Iraq

• Preface Introduction; L.Panitch  & M.Konings PART I: CONTOURS AND SOURCES OF IMPERIAL FINANCE Finance and American Empire; L.Panitch  & S.Gindin American Finance and Empire in Historical Perspective; M.Konings PART II: CONSTRUCTING THE PILLARS OF IMPERIAL FINANCE US Structural Power and the Internationalization of the US Treasury; D.Sarai Neo-Liberalism and the Federal Reserve; E.Newstadt US Power and the International Bond Market: Financial Flows and the Construction of Risk Value; S.Aquanno Towards the Americanization of European Finance? The Case of Finance-Led Accumulation in Germany; T.Sablowski Accounting for Financial Capital. American Hegemony and the Conflict over International Accounting Standards; T.Sablowski From Bretton Woods to Neoliberal Reforms: The International Financial Institutions and American Power; R.Felder The Role of Financial Discipline in Imperial Strategy; C.Rude Conclusion; M.Konings  & L.Panitch