World Financial Orders challenges the predominance of neo-liberalism as a mode of knowledge about contemporary world finance, and claims that it neglects the social and political bases as well as the malign consequences of change. He looks to the field of International Political Economy (IPE) to construct an alternative mode, one that critically restores society and politics. An 'historical' approach to IPE is advanced that accounts for modern world finance since the seventeenth century as a succession of structurally distinct hierarchical social orders.
This book will be of interest to those working in the field of IPE and to those scholars, researchers and students from across the social sciences who seek to challenge the common-sense, neo-liberal explanation of contemporary world finance.

'[This work contains a] wealth of information and understanding of the historical development of major financial centers.'- Journal of Economic Issues

Paul Langley is lecturer in International Politics at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK. His research interests are in the field of International Political Economy with particular reference to globalization, finance and the environment. His work has been published a variety of journals including New Political Economy and Review of International Political Economy.