Investing for the state: A finance-sensitive reading of the transnationalisation of chinese state capital in europe

Since the 2008 financial crisis, there have been increasing levels of Chinese investment in Europe. A significant portion of these investments originate from government sources, otherwise known as state capital. The growing volume of these flows has generated much scrutiny because they challenge long-held beliefs about the limited role of government in the economy that has characterised the global spread of neoliberalism. This dissertation argues that Chinese state capital investment in Europe has not only subverted expectations about the appropriate role of government in economic governance, but also how it has engendered renewed forms of government intervention in European polities. Through in-depth case studies in Belgium, Ireland and Serbia, the findings show how Chinese state capital has been invested through sovereign wealth funds, private multinational corporations and global financial professionals that defy conventional understandings of the boundary between public and private enterprise.