The Political Economy of Sovereign Wealth Funds

Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have generated controversy because of their size, the speed of their growth, their ownership, their investment decisions and, most importantly, what they stand for in a changing global economy-a new group of investors controlled, managed and backed by states. The debate initially tilted towards those countries receiving the most investment: investment from SWFs was threatening the national interest by hollowing out their economies and flagship companies, taking over resources and controlling their infrastructure. Politicians in some OECD countries even managed to create an atmosphere that SWFs were the `Trojan horse' of non-democratic countries, undermining their political and economic systems and stealing their national wealth. This book provides a counter-balance: a comparative study of the seven largest SWF-holding coutries primarily from a domestic perspective. In the volume, several contributors conclude that the creation and operation of these SWFs would appear to be driven more by domestic politics than external considerations. This calls for a radical re-examination of the impact of the SWFs from non-OECD countries, as well as the reaction and response to them by the United States and EU/OECD.

Xu Yi-chong is Research Professor at the Centre for Governance and Public Policy, Griffith University, Australia. Xu has written on energy security and international organisations, Her work includes: Powering China, Electricity Reform in China, India and Russia, The Governance of World Trade, Inside the World Bank and The Politics of Nuclear Energy in China

Gawdat Bahgat is Professor of Political Science at the Near East South Asia, Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University, USA. His book publications include: American Oil Diplomacy in the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea, Israel and the Persian Gulf: Retrospect and Prospect and Proliferation of Nuclear in the Middle East. He has published numerous articles on the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea in Scholarly journals