LIBERALIZATION AND CONSOLIDATION - THE SINGLE EUROPEAN MARKET AND THE REMAKING OF EUROPEAN FINANCIAL CAPITAL

The European Community's attempts to restructure the European financial services sector, as part of the Single European Market programme, are examined. These attempts are seen to embody impulses towards the liberalisation and consolidation of the sector which are often at odds. The authors examine the state regulation of money and financial institutions, consider the chief tendencies towards liberalisation and the opposing tendencies towards consolidation, and speculate on the outcome of the programme, especially on the struggle between finance and financial capital models of state regulation of money and finance.