ABSTRACT
While it is now a commonplace for the International Political Economy (IPE) literature to make the observation that it is not a case of states versus markets, the full implications of this insight have not always been developed. In this chapter I explore how the notion of multi-level governance might help us realize the full potential of a political economy of financial governance, rather than just the politics of financial governance.1 I do so from a position that sees both state and market as an integrated ensemble of governance (Underhill 2000b). Unhappy with the structural and economistic understandings of the market, which are often to be found in IPE, I travel elsewhere, specifically to the economic sociology, human geography and social anthropology literatures. While far less parsimonious, they offer a far fuller understanding of what markets are, and as such offer a stepping-off point for more creative thinking about financial governance-from an integrated state-market perspective.
