Middle-Sized Powers In Global Finance: Internationalisation and domestic policy-making

摘要

This article evaluates the impact of the market regulatory internationalisation of finance on domestic financial services sector policy-making in Canada and France. It is argued that internationalisation has had three main effects on the way policy in the financial services sector is elaborated. Firstly, the policy discourse is adjusted to take account of new international considerations. Secondly, policy options increasingly reflect the desire by decision-makers to render their national sector more competitive. Thirdly, the scope and influence of policy networks has increased in recent years leading to greater consultation between public and private sector actors in policy development. The article concludes that while new institutional parameters are influencing domestic policy-making processes, medium sized powers like Canada and France whose financial service sectors are closely associated with the United States and Europe respectively, are not constrained by internationalisation. Rather financial service policies are janus-faced reflecting both international and domestic considerations.