Public and private authority in the transnational response to the 2008 financial crisis

Abstract A remarkable feature of the international policy response to the 2008 financial crisis has been the degree to which it has relied heavily upon existing transnational regulatory arrangements involving public and private actors. The article starts by accounting theoretically for the autonomy of such arrangements. It then examines the role played by these networks before and during the crisis, while also acknowledging the relevance of competing approaches that emphasize the power of states and private actors. Understanding the role of these arrangements in shaping the interactions among public and private actors is important both for the reform of the global financial architecture, and for our more general theoretical understanding of transformations in sovereignty.