https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6175-906X
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ABSTRACT
State-owned investment funds have grown in number in recent years. This growth is curious in that it comes at a time when the barriers to the free flow of financial capital across borders is extremely low and capital is generally in abundance. Although it is certainly relevant that capital does not always flow to the most socially and economically useful places, which could justify the need for some form of state intervention, such intervention is puzzling with so much abundance. In short, what explains the joint and concurrent expansion globally of the state’s role as promoter, supervisor and owner of capital? Contrasting arguments that take the emergence of new state financial institutions as indicative of some countermovement to neoliberal globalisation, or as catch-up development, this article provides an explanation based on a reflexive reading of ‘state capitalism’ whereby the development and expansion of different forms of state financial institution are material manifestations of state capitalist impulses rooted in the state’s ongoing political mediation of global capital accumulation. This article focuses empirically on the development and evolution of state financial institutions in Ireland, specifically the National Development Corporation, the National Pensions Reserve Fund, and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 758430) and through the Leverhulme Trust British Academy Small Grants Scheme [grant number SG142828]. The author would like to acknowledge Ilias Alami, Milan Babić, Imogen Liu, Heather Whiteside and Jamie Peck, for discussions and collaborative work on ‘state capitalism’ and conjunctural analysis that have greatly influenced this work. Any errors or views are the author's.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
ETHICS STATEMENT
This research includes insights gained through elite interviews. Interviewees were provided information electronically about the scope and aims of the research prior to the interview and prior to giving consent for interview. Interviews were not recorded but notes were taken. No direct quotes are used in this paper and there is no personal identifying information.
Notes
1 According to the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds: https://ifswfreview.org/about-our-data.html.
2 Alami and Dixon (Citation2023) offer a fourth impulse they call the disciplinary state capitalist impulse, which focuses on state efforts to manage surplus populations.
3 National Development Corporation Act 1986, part II, section 10 paragraph (b).
4 Based on remarks made by the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Desmond O’Malley (Progressive Democrats) at the reading of the Industrial Development (Amendment) Bill, 1991: Second Stage. Tuesday, 17 December 1991, Seanad Éireann Debate. Vol. 130 No. 17.
5 See, Interim Report, Commission on Public Service Pensions, Dermot McAleese (Chair), Dublin Stationary Office, 1997; and see, Securing Retirement Income, National Pensions Policy Initiative Report of The Pensions Board to the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, May 1998.
6 National Pensions Reserve Fund Bill, 2000: Second Stage. Seanad Éireann Debate, Vol. 164, No. 13.
7 Personal interview conducted in Dublin on 6 April, 2016.
8 National Pension Reserve Fund Commission 2006 Annual Report and Financial Statements, 8 May 2007.
9 Personal interview, Dublin April 2016.
10 See, National Treasury Management Agency Annual Report & Financial Statistics 2021.
11 See press release regarding Paschal Donohoe’s, Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, announcement regarding refocus of ISIF. Available at: https://merrionstreet.ie/en/news-room/releases/minister_donohoe_to_refocus_the_ireland_strategic_investment_fund_to_better_meet_the_needs_of_a_strong_growing_economy.html (Accessed 08 November 2022). ISIF’s policy mandate was re-focused on five key economic priorities: (i) indigenous industry; (ii) regional development; (iii) sectors adversely affected by Brexit; (iv) projects to address climate change; and (v) housing supply.