Seminar Abstract

The role of emerging countries, especially those in Asia, in global financial governance has undergone considerable transformation since 2008. This seminar discusses the main reasons for this development, including the global financial crises of 2007-9. Since this time, Asian emerging countries have expressed varying levels of satisfaction with their role in global financial governance and their influence over outcomes. It explores the reasons for these differences and why some countries, notably China, have continued to perceive value in their participation in key institutions such as the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the Financial Stability Board, and the International Monetary Fund. It also considers the implications of these differences in perception, including for international cooperation among emerging countries outside these formerly Western-dominated institutions.

About the Speaker

Andrew Walter is Professor of International Relations in the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne. He has M.Phil. and D.Phil. degrees from Oxford University. His previous academic positions were at Oxford University and the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has published numerous articles on the political economy of international money and finance and their governance among and within countries. His most recent book is The Wealth Effect: How the Great Expectations of the Middle Class Have Changed the Politics of Banking Crises (Cambridge University Press, 2019, with Prof Jeffrey Chwieroth). His other books include Governing Finance: East Asia’s Adoption of International Standards (Cornell, 2008), Analyzing the Global Political Economy (Princeton, 2009), China, the United States, and Global Order (Cambridge, 2011, with Rosemary Foot), East Asian Capitalism (Oxford, 2012, ed. with Xiaoke Zhang), and Global Financial Governance Confronts the Rising Powers (CIGI, 2016, ed. with C.R. Henning). His current research projects include the politics of wealth and financialisation (with Jeffrey Chwieroth), emerging countries in global financial and monetary governance (with Randall Henning), and financialisation and populism.