Although we live in a globalised world, territorially embedded factors are highly relevant in such domains as security, economy, energy, environment, politics & diplomacy. Today’s analysts of world affairs are often loosely referring to ‘geopolitics’, but do not always clearly define it. This book therefore offers a necessary framework: an introduction into the main components of geopolitical analysis, an overview of the main geopolitical schools of thought, as well as reflections on how technology and geopolitics affect each other in economy, energy and security. In addition, several empirical studies are showcased, each developing innovative approaches. Leading authors reflect upon containment, analyse geopolitical myths, research geoeconomic rivalries, study mental maps, analyse conflict through territorially embedded variables & greed motivations and apply ‘neo-medievalism’ to study sub-state diplomacy. Contributors include: David Criekemans, Gyula Csurgai, Luis da Vinha, Manuel Duran, Alexandre Lambert, Antonios Nestoras, and Steven Spittaels.

Geofinance is about a way of seeing the world. As a true introduction, this work aims at commencing a journey that very few have undertaken, namely witnessing the pioneering of a brand new theory that has an interdisciplinary aspect. Indeed, the world of today can no longer be analysed and understood solely from the perspective of finance, economics, political sciences, or geography. This silo mentality is no longer compatible with the complex world in which we are living. We need a holistic approach that builds bridges between various research fields thereby helping understanding the complex nature of a phenomenon. That phenomenon is geofinance. Intuitively, many among you already perceive how geopolitics affect the world of global finance, but also how the realm of international finance is impacting on world events, and their stakeholders, be it governments, businesses, or individuals. This articulate and incisive introductory textbook shepherds practitioners, cognoscenti, scholars, and students through their first encounter with geofinance. It offers a clear bodywork for exploring contemporary power conflicts by illustrating how the world of geopolitics and the realm of global finance are mutually shaping and interacting with each other. The overarching theme of geofinancial structures (contexts) and geofinancial agents (institutions, markets, individuals wielding financial power, etc.) is accessible and necessitates no previous understanding of theory or current financial affairs. Throughout the book, case studies including the influence of financial markets on geopolitics, the contagion effects between sovereign and banking risks, the influence of geopolitical black swans on the world of international finance, the impact of geofinance on business, etc. emphasize the multi-faceted nature of the complex relationship between global finance and geopolitics in its broadest sense. Reading this book will provide a deeper and critical understanding of current world of global finance and facilitate access to higher level course work and essays on geofinance. Both students of finance, geography, international relations, and mainstream readers alike will find this book an essential stepping-stone to a fuller understanding of contemporary financially driven conflicts.

This edited collection explores the boundaries between political and financial geographies, focusing on the linkages between the changing strategies, policies and institutions of the state. It also investigates banks and other financial institutions affected by both state policies and a globalizing financial system, and the financial resources available to firms as well as households. In so doing, the book highlights how an empirical focus on the semi-periphery of the financial system may generate new perspectives on the entanglement between (geo) politics and finance.

The Routledge Companion to Banking Regulation and Reform provides a prestigious cutting edge international reference work offering students, researchers and policy makers a comprehensive guide to the paradigm shift in banking studies since the historic financial crisis in 2007. The transformation in banking over the last two decades has not been authoritatively and critically analysed by the mainstream academic literature. This unique collection brings together a multi-disciplinary group of leading authorities in the field to analyse and investigate post-crisis regulation and reform. Representing the wide spectrum of non-mainstream economics and finance, topics range widely from financial innovation to misconduct in banking, varieties of Eurozone banking to reforming dysfunctional global banking as well as topical issues such as off-shore financial centres, Libor fixing, corporate governance and the Dodd-Frank Act. Bringing together an authoritative range of international experts and perspectives, this invaluable body of heterodox research work provides a comprehensive compendium for researchers and academics of banking and finance as well as regulators and policy makers concerned with the global impact of financial institutions.

There is a vast body of literature estimating the impact of financial development on economic growth, inequality, and economic stability. A typical empirical study approximates financial development with either one of two measures of financial depth – the ratio of private credit to GDP or stock market capitalization to GDP. However, these indicators do not take into account the complex multidimensional nature of financial development. The contribution of this paper is to create nine indices that summarize how developed financial institutions and financial markets are in terms of their depth, access, and efficiency. These indices are then aggregated into an overall index of financial development. With the coverage of 183 countries on annual frequency between 1980 and 2013, the database should offer a useful analytical tool for researchers and policy makers.

The present work investigates global politics and political implications of social science and management with the aid of the latest complexity and chaos theories. Until now, deterministic chaos and nonlinear analysis have not been a focal point in this area of research. This book remedies this deficiency by utilizing these methods in the analysis of the subject matter. The authors provide the reader a detailed analysis on politics and its associated applications with the help of chaos theory, in a single edited volume.

"Is geography one, or is it several subjects? More precisely, are physical and political geography two stages of one investigation, or are they separate subjects to be studied by different methods, the one an appendix of geology, the other of history? " --Halford Mackinder in The Scope and Methods of Geography, 1887 The Scope and Methods of Geography was published by Halford Mackinder in 1887 in the "New Monthly Series of the Royal Geographical Society." It was a manifesto for the New Geography, in which he viewed physical geography and human geography as a single discipline. This publication represented the beginning of an illustrious career as an English geographer and academic.