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
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.
What is the new state capitalism?
Researchers from the SWFsEUROPE project, Ilias Alami, Milan Babic, Adam Dixon, and Imogen Liu, have published the introductory paper to a special issue on state capitalism they have edited in the journal Contemporary Politics. Instead of traditional introductory...
Interview for #ScholarSpotlight @Global Policy
Milan Babic has been interviewed for the #ScholarSpotlight series at Global Policy. You can find the interview and podcast here.
State capital and geoeconomics
Milan Babic just published a new paper in the Review of International Political Economy titled ' State capital in a geoeconomic world: mapping state-led foreign investment in the global political economy'. See the publications tab for more information.
Legitimating state capital
Imogen T. Liu and Adam Dixon have published a new article titled 'Legitimating state capital: the global financial professions and the transnationalisation of Chinese sovereign wealth' in the journal Development and Change. The article theorises the role of the global...
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.