Capital Markets and the Global International System

Barry Buzan’s ‘big picture’ analytical approach continues to help clarify the dilemmas of contemporary global politics. Bringing the sensibilities of historical sociology back into the domain of International Relations theory enriched key debates and warned against excessive parsimony. It continues to set the stage for richer empirical studies that go beyond description to disciplined analysis and the drawing out of normative and policy implications. This short chapter provides the outlines of a case in point. It starts with Buzan’s hypothetical framing of ‘the market’ as a primary institution of our contemporary world order. It then focuses specifically on the interaction of relatively open capital markets, especially since the early 1970s, with other primary institutions, like sovereignty, territoriality, international law, great power management, and nationalism. Its conclusion assesses the probability that this interaction will incline the system in the direction of collaborative government at the global level. Not naively discounting the possibility that the system might nevertheless recapitulate catastrophic financial and political disorder, the chapter holds out hope for a better world shaped by pragmatic decisions informed by deeper understandings of macro-social context. The trajectory of Barry Buzan’s life-long work inclines in that same direction.