Objective The number and size of sovereign wealth funds (SWF) has grown substantially in the last decade, leading to an unsettled debate regarding their legitimacy in the global political economy. Some suggest they represent the (re)emergence of state-led capitalism subject to geopolitical motivations that threaten free markets. For others, SWFs represent a source of long-term patient capital capable of mitigating market short-termism. Either way, SWFs challenge the norm, particularly in the West, that financial markets are spaces of exchange for non-state actors. In three complementary and interdisciplinary work programmes the SWFsEUROPE project will explain the evolving and variegated pattern of ‘sovereign fund capitalism’ in Europe, developing a new theory of the relationship between states and global finance. First, the project breaks new ground by explaining and theorizing how the legitimacy of SWFs as commercially oriented investors is performed when they are still entities of the state. No study has critically examined how legitimacy is performed via mechanisms such as the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds and the Santiago Principles, or the growing evidence of collaboration with cognate institutional investors (e.g. pension funds). Second, this projects seeks a multi-layered explanation of the uneven pattern of investment flows and stocks of foreign SWFs into European countries through hypothesis testing of aggregate investment data with different theories of national-institutional variety, coupled with a comparative analysis of the bilateral investment-promotion relationships of investment-receiving countries. Third, the project will compare the growth and development of European SWFs. There is no comparative study exploring why some states are sponsors of an SWF (e.g. Italy, France, Ireland) and others are not (e.g. UK), what the motivations are and how they are made legitimate. Fields of science social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicspolitical economy Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2017-STG - ERC Starting Grant Call for proposal ERC-2017-STG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-STG - Starting Grant Coordinator UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT Net EU contribution € 1 414 722,00 Address Minderbroedersberg 4 6200 MD Maastricht Netherlands See on map Region Zuid-Nederland Limburg (NL) Zuid-Limburg Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 Beneficiaries (2) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT Netherlands Net EU contribution € 1 414 722,00 Address Minderbroedersberg 4 6200 MD Maastricht See on map Region Zuid-Nederland Limburg (NL) Zuid-Limburg Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL Participation ended United Kingdom Net EU contribution € 0,00 Address Beacon house queens road BS8 1QU Bristol See on map Region South West (England) Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bristol/Bath area Bristol, City of Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
