Critical Finance and the Global South

As the global south stares down climate crisis and pressing social challenges, matters of finance are becoming of ever increasing importance. The terms and rates at which governments are able to borrow is determining which countries can develop the infrastructure needed to navigate shifting ecological conditions. The freedom with which central banks can conduct policy is determining social and developmental outlooks. The terms and rates at which businesses can access credit is determining who will be able to compete in emerging industries. Borrowing arrangements for households continue to go a long way in mediating life chances, too. And at the global level, uncertainty is the word, as an international financial order previously underpinned by the dollar slowly and unpredictably gives way.

This project aims to shine a light on these dynamics. Through rigorous case study analyses, its goal is to reveal finance’s sociology and (international) political economy. Clarifying what is often obscured in technical language, the project establishes how finance helps mediate the trajectories of nations and classes.