As the first major collection of papers on sovereign wealth funds and state-owned enterprises, this book provides an essential guide to the geo-political impact of these pools of capital on global markets. The rise of sovereign wealth funds and state-owned enterprises represents a fundamental shift in market dynamics. The potential fusion of political and commercial imperatives raises unresolved geo-political questions that have been sharpened by the vaporization of credit markets as a consequence of the global financial crisis. State-controlled pools of capital have now eclipsed hedge funds and private equity in terms of funds under management, and the question of their regulation is therefore now of utmost importance. This book highlights the interplay between legal, corporate and policy imperatives associated with the regulation of state capital. Including contributions from leading practitioners, policymakers and academics, it provides an essential guide to professionals and academics in the fields of finance and business.

Demystifies the process of sovereign wealth fund creation and examines the policy and economic issues surrounding them, updated for a post-Covid world

As the first major collection of papers on sovereign wealth funds and state-owned enterprises, this book provides an essential guide to the geo-political impact of these pools of capital on global markets. The rise of sovereign wealth funds and state-owned enterprises represents a fundamental shift in market dynamics. The potential fusion of political and commercial imperatives raises unresolved geo-political questions that have been sharpened by the vaporization of credit markets as a consequence of the global financial crisis. State-controlled pools of capital have now eclipsed hedge funds and private equity in terms of funds under management, and the question of their regulation is therefore now of utmost importance.This book highlights the interplay between legal, corporate and policy imperatives associated with the regulation of state capital. Including contributions from leading practitioners, policymakers and academics, it provides an essential guide to professionals and academics in the fields of finance and business./a

A complete guide to sovereign wealth funds written by and for industry practitioners Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) aren't new, but they are often misunderstood. As they've attracted more attention over the last decade and grown greatly in size, the need for a new and thorough resource on SWFs has never been greater. These funds will only grow more important over the coming years. In this book, expert authors who work in the industry present a comprehensive look at SWFs from the perspective of western investors.

What constitutes a sovereign wealth fund is contested. In general, however, it is a state-sponsored institutional investor that is answerable only to the state and makes investments according to the interests and mandate of that state. Different types of funds have emerged in the context of particular economic conjunctures, and over the last decade the number of sovereign wealth funds has grown substantially, with total assets exceeding $7 trillion. This trend is set to continue, as more and more countries look to establish an SWF. The place of SWFs in global financial markets may appear settled, but this does not mean that concerns about "state capital" and its place in financial markets has gone away. This short book offers an incisive discussion of the development of this class of investor, how they have become legitimate actors in global financial markets, and their role as providers of capital and in economic development at home and abroad.

The state is back, and it means business. Since the turn of the 21st century, state-owned enterprises, sovereign funds, and policy banks have vastly expanded their control over assets and markets. Concurrently, governments have experimented with increasingly assertive modalities of statism, from techno-industrial policies and spatial development strategies to economic nationalism and trade and investment restrictions. This book argues that we are currently witnessing a historic arc in the trajectories of state intervention, characterized by a drastic reconfiguration of the state's role as promoter, supervisor, shareholder-investor, and direct owner of capital across the world economy. It offers a comprehensive analysis of this “new state capitalism”, as commentators increasingly refer to it, and maps out its key empirical manifestations across a range of geographies, cases, and issue areas. Alami and Dixon show that the new state capitalism is rooted in deep geopolitical economic and financial processes pertaining to the secular development of global capitalism, as much as it is the product of the geoeconomic agency of states and the global corporate strategies of leading firms. The book demonstrates that the proliferation of muscular modalities of statist interventionism and the increasing concentration of capital in the hands of states indicate foundational shifts in global capitalism. This includes a growing fusion of private and state capital, and the development of flexible and liquid forms of property that collapse the distinction between state and private ownership, control, and management. This has fundamental implications for the nature and operations of global capitalism and world politics. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

The rise in China's trade surplus, the increase in oil prices, and a slowdown in demand for U.S. assets from private investors abroad has increased the United States' reliance on foreign governments for financing. This report examines whether America's ability to secure large quantities of external financing from foreign governments is a reflection of its political power, a constraint on its ability to exercise power, or a combination of the two.

There has been a major revival of interest in State Capitalism: What it is, where it is found, and why it is seemingly becoming more ubiquitous. As a concept, it has evolved from radical critiques of the Soviet Union, to being deployed by neo-liberals to describe market reforms deemed imperfect, to settle into a middle ground, as a pragmatic way to describe the state assuming a role as an active economic agent, in addition to its regulatory, social, and security functions. The latter is the central focus of this book, although due attention is accorded to the origins of state capitalism and how it has changed over the years, as well as contemporary ways in which state capitalism may be theorized. This economic agency may assume direct forms, for example, via state owned enterprises. However, it may also be indirect, for example, actively serving private interests through promoting insider firms, who may occupy monopolistic market positions and perform outsourced state functions. In turn, this leads to raise salient governance questions. The latter may encompass agency tensions between public ownership, and political or even private interest control; it may also include issues of transparency and monitoring. Although state capitalism has often been depicted as the preserve of states in the global south, be they developmental or predatory, many forms of state capitalism are visible in mature economies, be they liberal or coordinated, and this is not always associated with superior governance arrangements; indeed, this is an area where clear and easy divisions between the "developing" or "emerging" world and the "developed" or "mature" world may increasingly be breaking down. This volume brings together the accounts of leading experts from around the world; it is explicitly multi-disciplinary, and both consolidates the exiting knowledge base, and provides new, novel, and counter-intuitive insights.

This book explores how State capitalism affects and reshapes international investment law. It sheds new light on the various ways States actively influence business and commercial activity globally by using sovereign investors such as state-owned enterprises and sovereign wealth funds or pension funds. With a diverse group of contributors from a broad range of countries, the book offers a fresh and timely look into the fundamentals of State capitalism, focusing in particular on its actors and processes, the contextual elements that surround it, and the new political economy that comes with it. The book is essential reading for researchers, regulators, policy makers, and practitioners interested in the different ways State capitalism challenges and changes international investment law. As geopolitical considerations increasingly affect global economic activity, delving into the intricacies of State capitalism has never been more timely.

The law of immunity of states, of international organisations, and of public officials is one of the most important and most controversial topics of international law. The book consists of five parts: ‘State Immunity – National Practice’; State Immunity before the ICJ – The case Germany v Italy; ‘Commercial Activities and State Immunity’; ‘Immunity and Impunity’; and ‘Immunities of International Organisations’. Although immunities are in principle firmly anchored in international law, their precise legal implications are often unclear. The book takes up a number of new trends and challenges in this field and assesses them within the framework of global constitutionalism and multilevel governance. Contains chapters in both English and French.