"The relationship between states and globalization is one of the burning questions of our time. Providing a lively critique of how international and comparative political economy misjudge the relationship between markets and states, this book demonstrates the American state's central place in today's world of globalized finance. While US military interventions draw most attention to the imperial nature of the American state, the highly original contributions here show how US power is embedded in the structures of global finance." "This book reveals the role the American state plays in the expansion of international financial markets and in managing the economic crises that emanate from them."--BOOK JACKET.