(Neo)colonial (dis)connectivity:a sociological analysis of transnational infrastructure of finance

The three articles comprising this thesis engage with United States financial hegemony, analysing its historical trajectory, the enabling conditions that facilitated its emergence, and its repercussions on social actors and processes. The first article adopts a theoretical framework, exploring the tendency among American sociologists, who concurrently achieved significant influence within the discipline, to downplay the U.S.’s dominant position. Each subsequent empirical article then focuses on a contemporary case, albeit from distinct historical periods and analytical perspectives, wherein U.S. engagement with finance has been instrumental in shaping the trajectory of change. In this thesis, finance is conceptualised broadly, encompassing instruments, institutions, actors, and processes that have proliferated as a result of a flexible turn in capitalism. A central argument of this thesis is that examining financial transformation since the mid-20th century in light of regulation provides a broader understanding of shifts in global governance mechanisms. This intertwined evolution of finance and law has endowed the U.S. with an unprecedented capacity to safeguard its prominence and compel other global market participants to adhere to its dictates.