Structural Power and the Politics of Bank Capital Regulation in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This article describes and explains a significant tightening in bank capital regulation in the United Kingdom since the 2008 financial crisis. The banks fiercely resisted the new capital regulations but in a novel theoretical contribution we argue that the structural power of business was reduced due to the changing ideas of state leaders, by changing institutional arrangements within the state and by wider open politicisation of banking reform.

Keywords

banking structural power ideas institutions

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