Msc Thesis Oumaima Majiti
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Taking Development into the Shadows A critical political economy perspective on the G20’s decision to revive shadow banking to close the development funding gap Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master in Political Science (MSc). Name: Oumaima Majiti Student number: S1030990 Supervisor: Dr. A. Wigger University: Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Faculty: Nijmegen School of Management Specialization: International Political Economy Date of Submission: 17 August 2020 Abstract This thesis critically analyzes and explains the G20s decision to reframe shadow banking, by means of its support for the MFD agenda. The analysis has an agential, material and ideational dimension to determine the forces pushing for the agenda and to determine the structure facilitating the agency of these forces. Theoretically, this thesis employs a historical materialist framework that draws mainly on French Regulation Theory and the Amsterdam Approach and is premised upon a critical realist philosophy of science. The thesis shows that the financial and productive capital fraction have been the drivers of this agenda. Furthermore, it is shown that the MFD agenda acts as a mode of regulation to stabilize the crisis prone nature of the financialized regime of accumulation. Combined, this indicates a hegemony of the neoliberal ideology. Key words: Development; Shadow Banking; Financialization; G20; World Bank; Regulation Theory; Amsterdam Approach; Global South. Cover image: Bretton Woods Project (2017). “Development to the rescue of finance – the Bank’s ‘cascade’ approach”, 3 Juli 2017 https://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/2017/07/development-rescue-finance-banks-cascade- approach/ II “ If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and acts like a duck, then it is a duck – or so the saying goes. But what about an institution that looks like a bank and“ acts like a bank? Often it is not a bank – it is a shadow bank – Laura Kodres, IMF, June 2013. III Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... II Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................ IV List of Figures and Tables ........................................................................................................................... VI Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................................. VII 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 8 2. Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................................................... 14 2.1 Ontological Reflections .............................................................................................................................. 14 2.1.1 Limitations of Rationalism and Constructivism .................................................................................. 15 2.1.2 The Critical realist alternative ............................................................................................................. 18 2.2 Theoretical Considerations: Historical Materialism .................................................................................. 19 2.2.1 Historical Context: Capitalism ............................................................................................................ 19 2.2.2 Regulation theory ................................................................................................................................ 21 2.2.3 The Amsterdam Project ...................................................................................................................... 24 2.2.4 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 28 3. Research Strategy .................................................................................................................................... 30 3.1 Epistemology .............................................................................................................................................. 30 3.1.1 Limitations of the Positivist and Interpretivist .................................................................................... 30 3.1.2 Critical Realist Epistemology: Relativism .......................................................................................... 31 3.1.3 Critical Realist Analysis: Retroduction ............................................................................................... 32 3.2 Methodology and Data ............................................................................................................................... 32 3.3 Operationalization ...................................................................................................................................... 34 4. Empirical Analysis .................................................................................................................................. 38 4.1 Explanandum: emergence of MFD and reframing of shadow banking ...................................................... 38 4.1.1 The Maximizing Finance for Development agenda ............................................................................ 38 4.1.2 The reframing of shadow banking ...................................................................................................... 40 4.1.1 From Addis Abeba to Hamburg .......................................................................................................... 41 4.1.3 Criticism of the MFD agenda .............................................................................................................. 43 4.1.4 The decision-making arena: G20 ........................................................................................................ 43 4.2 Historic Bloc: Facilitating the MFD agenda .............................................................................................. 44 4.2.1 Tightening bond between financial capital and the G20 ..................................................................... 44 4.2.2 Relationship between the class fractions ............................................................................................. 45 4.2.3 Discourse Analysis: class fractions ..................................................................................................... 46 4.2.4 Discourse analysis: forces of resistance .............................................................................................. 49 4.2.5 Summary and key findings ................................................................................................................. 50 4.2.6 Strategic selectivity of the state .......................................................................................................... 51 4.3 Material structures: Global North and South accumulation regimes ......................................................... 53 4.3.1 Preceding regime of accumulation: Fordism ...................................................................................... 53 4.3.2 Contemporary regime of accumulation: Financialization ................................................................... 54 4.4 Adopting MFD: Neoliberal hegemony ....................................................................................................... 59 5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 60 IV Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................ 62 Appendix A: List of Global North and South Countries ............................................................................. 82 V List of Figures and Tables Figure 1: Visualization of the theoretical framework ............................................................................ 29 Figure 2: The Cascade Framework ........................................................................................................ 39 Figure 3: Increase of the shadow banking system ................................................................................. 41 Figure 4: Gross capital formation (% of GDP.………………………………………………………...47 Figure 5: Market capitalization of listed domestic companies (% of GDP)............................................48 Figure 6: Total reserves (includes gold, current US$)............................................................................49 Figure 7: Foreign direct investment, net inflows and outflows (% of GDP)..........................................50 Figure 8: External balance on goods and services ( % of GDP).............................................................51 VI Abbreviations B20 Business 20 C20 Civil 20 CMU Capital Markets Union EC European Commission FSB Financial Stability Board G20 Group of 20 GNI Gross National Income ICC International Chamber of Commerce IMF International Monetary Fund L20 Labout 20 MDB Multilateral Development Banks MFD Maximizing Finance for Development NGO Non-Governmental Organization