Global Finance in Crisis: The Politics of International Regulatory Change

From the vantage point of the key powers in global finance including the United States, the European Union, Japan, and China, this highly accessible book brings together leading scholars to examine current changes in international financial regulation. They assess whether the flurry of ambitious initiatives to improve and strengthen international financial regulation signals an important turning point in the regulation of global finance. The text:


Examines the kinds of international reforms have been implemented to date and patterns of international regulatory change.


Provides an analysis of change across a number of financial sectors, including the regulation of hedge funds, derivatives, credit rating agencies, accounting, and banks.


Offers an explanation of contemporary regulatory developments with reference to inter-state power dynamics, domestic politics, transgovernmental networks, and/or transnational non-state forces.

Providing the first systematic analysis of the international regulatory response to the current global financial crisis, this ground-breaking volume is vital reading for students and scholars of international political economy, international relations, global governance, finance and economics.

Eric Helleiner is Professor and CIGI Chair in International Governance at the University of Waterloo, Canada. His research focuses on International political economy, international money and finance, North-South economic relations, history of political economy. He is currently a Trudeau Fellow, and CIGI Chair in International Governance as well as Co-Editor (with Jonathan Kirshner) of the book series Cornell Studies in Money.
Stefano Pagliari is PhD Student in Global Governance at the University of Waterloo, Canada.
Hubert Zimmermann is Acting Professor of Comparative Politics at Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf. He was DAAD Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Government, Cornell University from 2003 to 2008. He also worked as editor of German diplomatic documents at the Auswaertiges Amt, Bonn. His research interests include the history and politics of transatlantic relations, German postwar history, European integration, and international monetary and trade policy.

1. Introduction - Global Finance in Crisis: The Politics of International Regulatory Change Eric Helleiner and Stefano Pagliari Part 1: Issues and Structures 2. Regulatory Reactions to the Global Credit Crisis: Analysing a Policy Community under Stress Eleni Tsingou 3. The Politics of Accounting Regulation: Responses to the Subprime Crisis Andreas Nölke 4. Risk Models and Transnational Governance in the Global Financial Crisis: The Cases of Basel II and Credit Rating Agencies Tony Porter 5. The End of Self-Regulation? Hedge Funds and Derivatives in Global Financial Governance Eric Helleiner and Stefano Pagliari Part 2: Countries and Regions 6. Uncertain Leadership: The U.S. Regulatory Response to the Global Financial Crisis David Andrew Singer 7. Is a European Approach to Financial Regulation Emerging from the Crisis? Elliot Posner 8. Varieties of Global Financial Governance? British and German Approaches to Financial Market Regulation Hubert Zimmermann 9. Mission Accomplished, or a Sisyphean Task? Japan’s Regulatory Responses to the Global Financial Crisis Saori N. Katada 10. Chinese Attitudes towards Global Financial Regulatory Cooperation: Revisionist or Status Quo? Andrew Walter 11. Whither International Financial Regulation? Hubert Zimmermann