ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the crisis management literature and the domestic and international politics of financial regulatory reform. By drawing on theories of hegemony, lender of last resort and financial regimes, it attempts to provide an eclectic framework within which to explore the institutional and political underpinnings of post-crisis regulatory reform. The recent global financial instability has highlighted the need to examine the role of domestic and international institutions as a catalyst of crisis resolution and financial system governance. In this regard, domestic and international efforts at financial sector reform inspired a growing body of literature (Beeson and Bell 2009, Porter 2005). Some commentators1 saw the recent instability as an opportunity to make the case for a “reinvigorated state” with a prominent role in crisis management. This has led to an inquiry into how states can use their regulatory and institutional powers to stabilize the effects of the cyclical behavior of markets. However, the efforts to theorize the multi-layered politics of post-crisis regulatory reform have received less attention, a gap worth examining.
