Like many buzzwords, "global governance" is poorly understood. In contrast to most mainstream accounts, this book examines global economic governance as an integral moment of contemporary capitalism. Susanne Soederberg presents a critical insight into its real nature and the interests that it serves. This book begins by asking what has not been discussed in the mainstream debates--and why. Soederberg explores neglected issues including transnational debt and the coercive nature of US aid to "failed states." Soederberg argues that mainstream understandings fail to engage with the wider contradictions that characterize global capitalism. In consequence, there is no explanation of the changing nature of American empire and capitalist power. Furthermore, Soederberg maintains that global governance acts to normalize increasingly austere forms of capitalist expansion.

Susanne Soederberg is a Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor in International Development Studies at Queen's University, Canada. She is the author of The Politics of the New International Financial Architecture: Reimposing Neoliberal Dominance in the Global South (2004).

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[An] acute and revealing examination of the economic difficulties facing the American empire. - Ronnie D. Lipschutz, Professor of Politics, University of California, Santa CruzIndispensable for students of international polical economy and a must for political activists. - Professor Elmar Altvater, Department of Political Science, Free University, Berlin