Sarah Bracking explores the role of governments and development finance institutions in managing the markets in which the poorest countries operate. These institutions -- the 'Great Predators' -- are trapping the populations of the south in a permanent cycle of austerity.

Bracking examines the political economy relations between states. She shows how pseudo-public 'development' institutions retain complete economic control over Southern markets, yet the international system is itself unregulated. Operating in the interests of North America and the European Union, they have a political purpose, and yet serve to cloud the brute power relations between states.

This book will be of interest to anyone studying debt and development, global financial institutions, and the way the world economy is regulated and governed.

Sarah Bracking is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and Development at the University of Manchester. She is the editor of Corruption and Development (2007) and a member of the Review of African Political Economy editorial working group.

Chapter 1: The political economy of development
Chapter 2: Money in the political economy of development
Chapter 3: Making Markets
Chapter 4: International development banks and creditor states
Chapter 5: The British Market Makers
Chapter 6: Poverty in Africa and the history of multilateral aid
Chapter 7: Derivative business and aid-funded accumulation
Chapter 8: Private sector development and bilateral interventions
Chapter 9: Taking the long view of promoting capitalism
Chapter 10: Aid effectiveness: what are we measuring?
Chapter 11: Conclusion
Bibliography
Index