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The Ascendancy Of Finance by Joseph Vogl
Mar. 26th, 2018 11:37 pmThe Blurb On The Back:
The global financial crisis of 2008 ushered in a system of informal decision-making in the grey zone between economics and politics. Legitimised by a rhetoric of emergency, ad hoc bodies have usurped democratically elected governments. In line with the neoliberal credo, the recent crisis has been used to re-align executive power with the interests of the finance industry.
In this important book, Joseph Vogl offers a longer perspective on these developments, showing how the dynamics of modern finance capitalism have always rested on a complex and constantly evolving relationship between private creditors and the state. He argues that over the last three centuries, finance has become a 'fourth power', marked by the systematic interconnection of treasury and finance, of political and private economic interests.
The Ascendency Of Finance provides valuable and unsettling insight into the genesis of modern power and where it truly resides.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Joseph Vogl is Professor of Literature and Cultural Theory at the Humboldt University of Berlin and in this densely academic read that I found incredibly difficult to follow at times (translated from German by Simon Garnett), he argues that the way in which western political economic systems have developed means that finance has evolved into its own independent sphere that mediates between public and private interests.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
The global financial crisis of 2008 ushered in a system of informal decision-making in the grey zone between economics and politics. Legitimised by a rhetoric of emergency, ad hoc bodies have usurped democratically elected governments. In line with the neoliberal credo, the recent crisis has been used to re-align executive power with the interests of the finance industry.
In this important book, Joseph Vogl offers a longer perspective on these developments, showing how the dynamics of modern finance capitalism have always rested on a complex and constantly evolving relationship between private creditors and the state. He argues that over the last three centuries, finance has become a 'fourth power', marked by the systematic interconnection of treasury and finance, of political and private economic interests.
The Ascendency Of Finance provides valuable and unsettling insight into the genesis of modern power and where it truly resides.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Joseph Vogl is Professor of Literature and Cultural Theory at the Humboldt University of Berlin and in this densely academic read that I found incredibly difficult to follow at times (translated from German by Simon Garnett), he argues that the way in which western political economic systems have developed means that finance has evolved into its own independent sphere that mediates between public and private interests.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
