Book presentations

This event features presentations by two authors on their recently published books.

Co-organised by the IPE Research Group and the Centre for German Transnational Relations, this event features presentations by two authors on their recently published books. One book explores German banking, while the other examines the enduring strength of the US dollar.

Please note, this is a hybrid event. You will be asked to select either in-person or online attendance when registering.

Extroverted Financialisation. Banking on US Dollar Debt, by Mareike Beck

Extroverted Financialization offers a new account of the Americanisation of global finance through the concept of 'extroverted financialization'. The study presents German banks as active participants of financialisation, demonstrating how deeply entangled they were with global markets since post-WWII reconstruction. Extroverted Financialication locates the transformation of global banking within the revolution of funding practices in 1960s New York and shows how this empowered US banks to systematically outcompete their European counterparts. This uneven competition drove German banks to partially uproot themselves from their own home markets and transform their own banking models into US financial models. This transformation not only led to the German banks' speculative investments during the 2000s subprime mortgage bubble, but more importantly to rising USD dependency and their contemporary decline.

Dollar Dominance. Why It Rules the Global Economy and How to Challenge It? by Photis Lysandrou, City St. Georges.

In a world shaken by crises, why does the dollar continue to dominate? In this book, Photis Lysandrou explores the interaction between global instability and the enduring strength of the dollar. Drawing on examples from the 2008 Great Financial Crisis to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the author reveals how uncertainty and instability in global trade, production and politics drives investors towards the safety of the dollar, reinforcing its dominance over other currencies. With clear and insightful analysis, Lysandrou reveals the true global financial foundations of dollar dominance, and lays out what it would take for other currencies such as the Euro to challenge its position.