BRICS and the Global Financial Order: Liberalism Contested?

BRICS and the Global Financial Order: Liberalism Contested?

Series: Elements in the Economics of Emerging Markets

Authors: Johannes Petry & Andreas Nölke

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Publication Year: 2024

Edition: First edition

About this Book

BRICS and the Global Financial Order – Liberalism Contested? examines the rising role of emerging market economies (EMEs), particularly the BRICS countries, in challenging the US-led liberal global financial order (GFO). The book argues that while finance is central to the contemporary liberal international order, it has been relatively underexplored in debates on contestations of liberalism. Using a systematic empirical framework across seven countries, eleven issue areas, and three analytical levels—domestic, transnational, and international—the authors analyze how BRICS countries create alternatives to liberal finance.

The study highlights that contestation is concentrated at the domestic and transnational levels, with China, Russia, and India leading the state-capitalist challenge. By examining monetary, financial, and development sub-orders, the book shows how these countries use state intervention, capital controls, and financial institutions to increase autonomy and influence in global finance. The expansion of BRICS+ in 2024, incorporating major oil-producing and emerging economies, further enhances their geopolitical and economic significance.

This work is relevant for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners in international political economy, comparative political economy, global finance, and development studies. It bridges the study of domestic economic systems with transnational and international dynamics, offering a comprehensive assessment of how non-Western actors contest liberal finance. By conceptualizing the state-capitalist alternative, the book also contributes to broader debates on the evolution of the global economic order and the rise of multipolar financial governance.

Contents

• Summary
• 1 Introduction: The Liberal Global Financial Order and Its State-Capitalist Alternative
  • 1.1 Conceptual Framework
  • 1.2 Empirical Approach
• 2 Contestation of the Monetary Sub-order
  • 2.1 Exchange Rate Regimes
  • 2.2 Balance of Payments
  • 2.3 Central Banks and Monetary Policy
• 3 Contestation of the Finance Sub-order
  • 3.1 International Capital Mobility
  • 3.2 Foreign Direct Investment
  • 3.3 Corporate Ownership and Governance
  • 3.4 Commercial Banks and Banking Regulations
  • 3.5 Financial Markets
  • 3.6 Accounting Standards
• 4 Contestation of the Development Sub-order
  • 4.1 International Debt Management
  • 4.2 Development Finance
• 5 Conclusion: The External Contestation of Liberalism
  • 5.1 Summary of Empirical Results
  • 5.2 Theoretical, Empirical and Political Significance of Findings
  • 5.3 Limitations and Future Research Agenda
• Funding Statement
• Economics of Emerging Markets
• Footnotes

References