Theories of empire and imperialism have a long history in both the International Relations (IR) and International Political Economy (IPE) literature. Yet both literatures have significant theoretical and methodological problems. IR scholars assume the American empire has a progressive role in the global system, promoting peace, security and prosperity. They divorce the ideals of America from its history of violence and exploitation. Alternatively, the IPE literature recognizes that capitalism is a driving force behind imperialism, but tends to ignore other determinants of American foreign policy. This dissertation aims to use an interpretation of Karl Marx’s method of historical materialism to reconceptualize imperialism in the 20th and early 21st century. Building upon theories offered in the IPE literature, it argues there are three interrelated types of imperialisms at work: geopolitical, geocapital and capital imperialism. Geopolitical imperialism is when geopolitics is the main determinant behind foreign policy. This process is driven by international security concerns or domestic politics and often has few direct economic motivations. Geocapital imperialism is when the needs of capital accumulation coincide with the policies of the government. The third type is “capital imperialism.” This process conditions countries and institutions through transnational corporations and international finance, such as bond markets, the repo markets, currency speculation and investment flows. The recent financialization of the international system has made this process of imperialism a much more rapid and disruptive international process. This thesis will place an emphasis on relations, context and history in order to provide a thorough understanding of the forces of imperialism with a particular focus on the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. / Thesis (Ph.D, Political Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-28 16:52:37.364

Our current understanding of credit rating agencies’ influence on national sovereignty relies on a dichotomised and highly antagonistic view of the relationship between states and the global economy. This perspective is locked into the discursive confines of the structuralist-sceptics debate within the field of international political economy. CRAs are said to either erode state sovereignty or represent a manifestation of it. By abandoning the state-market, public-private and national-global dichotomies embedded within this debate, and the zero-sum mentality they are predicated upon, this thesis offers an alternative – “transformationalist” – perspective to view the power of CRAs and their influence on national sovereignty. Defying traditional categorization, CRAs’ power is the result of a state-market, public-private confluence of interest and therefore has no determinative influence on national sovereignty. In the course of this analysis, a second assumption embedded within the study of CRAs’ influence is criticised: the fixation on the “big three” rating agencies (Moody’s, S&P and Fitch) and the neglect of the significance of the credit rating itself. Because the rating determination process is opaque, and the credit rating itself is a highly simplified expression of an intricately complex financial, economic and political reality, the causes of a sovereign rating change are often “up for debate”. Governments, within certain degrees of interpretation, are able to embed their own domestic political interests into the “causes” of a rating change, thereby co-opting and co-constructing the power and expertise of CRAs. This can, when successful, enhance governments’ internal sovereignty over domestic social forces and their external sovereignty as they “filter” the influence of a non-state actor. New Zealand’s interaction with the CRAs throughout 2008 to 2012 illustrates how this dynamic occurs and its limitations. The thesis seeks to highlight the diversity and heterogeneity involved in the processes of globalization in general, and CRAs’ influence in particular, and in doing so open up political space to consider possible forms of resistance.

This paper employs an augmented gravity model for a sample of 96 host countries to examine the impact of host country rule of law on direct investment from the United States. This paper further investigates the gap between property rights and freedom from corruption, the two primary components of a country’s rule of law. Property rights and freedom from corruption are both shown to have a significant positive effect on U.S. outward foreign direct investment. This thesis argues that freedom from corruption is a more powerful measure than property rights for determining the location of U.S. direct investment. This suggests that for host countries, reducing the level of corruption may be more effective at stimulating direct capital investment from U.S. investors than expanding property rights.

This research project explores the rise of Chinese cross-border finance. Cross-border investment programmes have been at the heart of China's financial liberalisation. Yet, we know little about what drives the expansion of these new market entry channels and the effects they have on global finance. This thesis explores the role that formal and informal institutions play in China's financial system, by addressing three main research goals: (1) to rethink analytical frameworks of global financial networks, by shifting the focus to channels of state power; (2) to investigate how such formal institutions shape competitive hierarchies in financial markets, both inside and outside of China; (3) to demonstrate that informal institutions such as a common cultural identity are equally important to explain behaviour and outcomes in Chinese cross-border finance. The thesis pursues this agenda through four substantive papers, each with its own subset of research goals and findings. The papers follow a three-fold structure. The thesis begins with an analytical focus on agents (micro-level), by examining the evolution of state-firm relations in Chinese cross-border finance. The first paper develops a politically sensitive framework of global financial networks, which conceptualises how bargaining dynamics within China's party-state shape competitive hierarchies in Chinese capital markets. Drawing on these theoretical insights, the second paper breaks new empirical ground, by explaining the asymmetrical nature of market access criteria for foreign investors. The third paper zooms out on the global consequences that Chinese state control has for money centres (macro-level). It sheds light on how state-firm relations shaped London's development as the first Western offshore trading centre for Chinese currency. The fourth paper shifts the attention to the role of informal social institutions in Chinese equity markets. It presents the first empirical study of how a common cultural identity with Mainland China governs the behaviour of different investor categories (group-level). The thesis distils the following findings: Bargaining conflicts inside the Chinese party-state have a decisive impact on competitive outcomes and behaviour in Chinese cross-border finance, both domestically and globally. Strategic state interests form an interdependent relationship with the resources supplied by foreign investors and domestic corporate players. Domestically, these resource interdependencies explain the asymmetrical nature of market access under China's cross-border investment schemes. Globally, the shift in state-firm bargaining dynamics from strategic alignment to an increasing bifurcation of interests explains the patchy integration of RMB finance into London's financial architectures. Informal social institutions equally shape competitive outcomes in China's capital markets. Whilst the literature identifies shared cultural identity as a source of local information advantage, this thesis finds the opposite: A common cultural background with national Chinese investors reduces information asymmetries for foreign investors but it does not equate to local information advantages. Overall, the four substantive papers add up to a multifaceted yet integrated perspective on the drivers, dynamics and consequences of Chinese cross-border finance. They clarify that the intersection of formal state governance and informal social forces is essential for understanding how the spread of neoliberal market forces unfolds across Chinese capital markets. This thesis thus affirms that space and place remain central to our understanding of financial market outcomes.

Changes in policy. technology, and organizational structures have led to a truly global economy, resulting in both new challenges and new opportunities for global environmental governance. The private sector has adapted well, reorganizing business activities into dense networks of global supply chains. These same forces have placed new constraints on the ability of states to govern global activities. Civil society is utilizing its network characteristics in an effort to fill these governance gaps. Activists have begun focusing on consumer and capital markets, targeting the retail and financial nodes of global supply chains, in an attempt to force corporations to the negotiating table. This work provides new insights into the complex ways in which the characteristics of an industry shape the prospects for campaign success and the broader implications of market campaigns for the possibilities of environmental governance. To answer these questions. two original theoretical frameworks are developed utilizing existing literature and the experiences of environmental campaigns targeting the forestry sector. These frameworks are then applied to case studies taken from the mining industry, namely, the No Dirty Gold campaign and the Global Finance campaign. Activists have been quite successful in their endeavors. The result has been the establishment of private certification institutions, which commit firms to abide by voluntary environmental codes. Continuing campaign pressure has been resulting in a ratcheting-up of these private initiatives. The wider implications discussed within this study revolve around questions of market campaigns' democratic implications, their effect on the regulatory capacity of the state, and their ability to tackle the core causes of environmental issues. The theoretical frameworks developed in this study render multifaceted results, but the implications drawn from them show market campaigns to be a productive, albeit partial, contributor to global environmental governance.