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This collection of Finance & Space makes substantial contributions to understanding the recent diffusion of financialization in countries located on the margins of the main historical centres of the capitalist world-system. It is noteworthy that the texts included here offer solid analyses for a diverse range of financial issues encompassing the three main ‘macro-areas’ that constitute the Global South: Brazil (in the context of Latin America), Malawi and Kenya in Africa, and India in Asia. Due to their historically subordinate position in the international division of labor, these countries have always faced permanent structural difficulties in establishing themselves as autonomous poles of development and accumulation, serving more as ‘satellites’ for the demands and needs of the more central countries.

This condition of historical and structural dependence is addressed in some of its main dimensions, such as in the article by Belén Villegas Plá, which shows how successive financial crises in Latin American countries have made them more susceptible to different types of cyclical instabilities throughout history, which still hinders the planning and execution of development policies that could reverse (or at least diminish) their peripheral and dependent condition. Other problems stem from this peripheral condition, which are unfortunately common to practically all countries in the Global South (and are addressed in the texts of Sugam Agarwal and Smruti Ranjan Behera, but also by Matthew Lane, Evance Mwathunga, and Jennifer Robinson): the difficulties in financing and disseminating strategic urban and regional infrastructures. The obstacles to providing basic elements of dignity and citizenship, such as the right to housing and a decent household income, are particularly significant for the most vulnerable populations in terms of gender and race. Finally, these difficulties are compounded – as shown by Ben Mkalama and Stefan Ouma, but also by Maira Magnani, Daniel Sanfelici, Feliz Adisson, and Ludovic Halbert – by the recent diffusion in these countries of powerful and globally connected financial agents, such as venture capital investors and asset managers, who tend to disseminate an even more powerful – and wealth-concentrating – rationality in the territories where they operate, further hindering the use of finance for the achievement of more emancipatory and democratic policies.

The financial and geographical realities discussed in the texts also show us that there are elements to suggest that this current state of affairs is undergoing a process of transformation. When we analyze "geoeconomics" from a "longue durée" perspective (to recall two enlightening concepts from Fernand Braudel), we see that new poles of financial, technological, and political power accumulation are being created, mainly due to the rise of new protagonists in the international division of labor in the East, especially China and India.

Edited by

Fabio Contel (Department of Geography, University of São Paulo, Brazil)

Fabio Contel is an Associate Professor at the Department of Geography at the University of São Paulo. He is currently a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Finance & Space and founding member of the Global Network on Financial Geography. His main research areas are urban geography, economic geography, and the geography of finance.