Hedge Funds as a Weapon of State?: Financial and Monetary Power in an Era of Liberalized Finance

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether states retain the capacity to engage in financial and monetary forms of diplomacy within the present context of liberalized international capital markets. In doing so, it argues that what has been ignored in much of the current international relations literature is the historically unique characteristics of certain non-state financial actors and the opportunities which they may afford for the use of state power. Specifically, by demonstrating the increasing authority which is being exercised by hedge funds and how this authority is serving to re-centralize investment decisionmaking, this paper argues that these funds may provide a renewed site through which states might exercise financial and monetary forms of power.