^aDepartment of Sociology, McGill University, Leacock 712, 855 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Canada QC H3A 2T7.

Correspondence: Marcos Ancelovici, E-mail: marcos.ancelovici@mcgill.ca

Abstract

How can we explain shifts in capital controls? How can we account for the emergence and diffusion of new norms that guide financial practices? How can we explain the rise of global finance? Instead of the usual suspects that such questions would lead us to consider, Rawi Abdelal's brilliant book, Capital Rules: The Construction of Global Finance (Harvard UP, 2007) opens new paths and summons a set of very unusual suspects: French socialists rather than American neoliberals, and norms rather than material interests. The result is a fascinating, detailed account of how a few entrepreneurs put their mark on global finance.