Main Content

Subproject C05
Political security and financial market stability in the wake of the global financial crisis

1. Funding period (2014-2017)

Since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2007, financial market stability has increasingly been declared a core element of political security. Financial market stability and its (re)establishment are regarded as one of the most important preconditions for the integrity of political communities, both at the national level and at the supranational level of the European Union. Against this background, the question is raised here to what extent and through which channels representations of political security as well as practices of its production incorporate logics that have their origins in finance. The aim is to trace the dynamics of the securitization of the financial economy and the consequences for political action that result from the fact that financial logics are incorporated into the representation and production of political security.

The central question is: The project assumes that in the reactions to the financial crisis a redefinition of political security is emerging that has incorporated the substantive aspect of financial stability. At the same time, political security is increasingly formulated in terms of financial rationalities - at the level of concepts, category systems, operational routines and expert knowledge.

The analysis is conducted at several levels, guided by the following guiding questions, among others:

  • How has the global financial crisis since 2007 affected the representation and creation of political security?
  • Are there convergences in the public debate between financial and political security concepts?
  • Which actors have influenced the representation and production of political security in the wake of the crisis?
  • Was there a (re)formation of crisis elites to whom special epistemic expertise and authority is attributed in relation to the handling of the global financial crisis?
  • Did the power to define 'security' lie more with political actors who want to regulate the financial sector or with actors close to the financial sector who assert their economic interests through their expertise?
  • Is there a political securitization of the financial markets or a financialization of political security?

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