Introduction

Financial globalization has emerged as one of the principal governance challenges over the last two decades. National and international policy-makers regularly debate and refer to financial globalization in an assortment of settings and arenas. With increasing frequency, academics have also debated the significance of financial globalization, its merits or otherwise, and the challenges it poses to those charged with governing financial affairs (see amongst others Cerny 1993a, 1998a; Helleiner, 1994; Kapstein 1994; Cohen 1996; Eichengreen 1996, 1999; Germain 1997; Pauly 1997; Soros 1998; Eatwell and Taylor 2000; Kaiser, Kirton and Daniels 2000; Andrews, Henning and Pauly 2002; Bryant 2003; Underhill and Zhang 2003). The priorities of this volume are to concentrate analysis upon, and attempt to unpack the increasingly complex patterns of, governance and authority associated with ‘globalization’.