This book analyzes public debt from a political, historical, and global perspective. It demonstrates that public debt has been a defining feature in the construction of modern states, a main driver in the history of capitalism, and a potent geopolitical force. From revolutionary crisis to empire...

Part I. Political Crises and the Legitimacy of Public Debts (1770s-1860s) -- 1. An Empire of Debts? Spain and Its Colonial Realm -- 2. Publicity, Debt, and Politics: The Old Regime and the French Revolution -- 3. Politics of Credit: Government Borrowing and Political Regimes in Sweden -- 4....

"A dynamic historian revisits the workers' internationals, whose scope and significance are commonly overlooked. In current debates about globalization, open and borderless elites are often set in opposition to the immobile and protectionist working classes. This view obscures a major historical...