SWFsEUROPE
About SWFsEUROPE
The number and size of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) has grown substantially in the last decade, leading to an unsettled debate regarding their legitimacy in the global political economy, particularly as many originate from the Global South and from illiberal political economies (e.g. China).
Some suggest they represent the (re)emergence of state-led capitalism subject to geopolitical motivations that threaten free markets. For others, SWFs represent a source of long-term patient capital capable of mitigating market short-termism. Either way, SWFs challenge the norm, particularly in the Global North, that financial markets are spaces of exchange for non-state actors. By analyzing the behavior of SWFs, their interaction with different stakeholders at home and abroad, and how they are legitimized as financial actors in the global political economy, SWFsEUROPE will provide new critical insights into the contemporary relationship between the state and the market.
Recent news
SWFsEUROPE project comes to an end
The SWFsEUROPE project reached its end in on 31 January 2023. We are very happy of all the work we have produced on SWFs and related topics (e.g. state capitalism). Our engagement with non-academic users has been robust, particularly the International Forum of...
IFSWF publishes Adam Dixon’s reflection on IFSWF Annual Meeting in Baku
Adam Dixon was invited to write a summary reflection on the proceedings of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds Annual Meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan. Adam produced this work with Pat Schena. The report is available here:...
Adam Dixon presents in Rio
SWFsEUROPE PI Adam Dixon was invited by the Brazilian Sovereign Wealth Funds Forms and the Jain Family Institute to present at a meeting on 30 November - 1 December in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Adam had the opportunity to discuss SWFs alongside Victoria Barbary of the...
Decarbonising states as owners
Milan Babić and Adam Dixon have published a new paper in the journal New Political Economy entitled 'Decarbonising states as owners'. The paper fills an important gap in our knowledge about the environmental state, while drawing the attention of researchers and...
Adam Dixon wins Journal of Contemporary Asia Prize 2023
The editor and co-editors of the Journal of Contemporary Asia have awarded Adam Dixon the prize for the best paper published in 2022, for his paper, “The Strategic Logics of State Investment Funds in Asia: Beyond Financialisation” (Vol. 52, No. 1). The judging panel...
The Political Economy of Geoeconomics
Adam Dixon, Imogen Liu, and former SWFsEUROPE postdoc Milan Babic (now at Roskilde University) have just published the edited volume ‘The Political Economy of Geoeconomics: Europe in a Changing World‘. The volume brings together researchers from different disciplinary...
Adam Dixon publishes new book on SWFs
You’ve heard about Sovereign Wealth Funds, but you know little about them? In this new book titled “Sovereign Wealth Funds: Between the State and Markets” Adam Dixon, Patrick Schena of Tufts University and Javier Capapé of IE University offer an accessible treatment...
What does the state do in China’s state-led infrastructure financialisation?
Imogen T. Liu and Adam have published an article on China's financialisation of infrastructure in the Journal of Economic Geography. The article offers an alternative narrative to prevailing accounts of neoliberal financialisation in the advanced capitalist core,...
Is the China Effect Real?
Milan Babić and Adam Dixon have just published a new article in the Chinese Journal of International Politics entitled, "Is the China Effect Real? Ideational Change and the Political Contestation of Chinese State-Led Investment in Europe."
“Expropriation of Capitalist by State Capitalist”
Ilias Alami and Adam Dixon have just published a new paper in the journal Economic Geography entitled,“Expropriation of Capitalist by State Capitalist:” Organizational Change and the Centralization of Capital as State Property.
Funders and partners
SWFsEUROPE is a five-year research project titled Legitimacy, Financialization, and Varieties of Capitalism: Understanding Sovereign Wealth Funds in Europe. The project is hosted at Maastricht University and a recipient of funding from the European Research Council.