The aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis produced diverse solutions, from nationalizing banks to increasing government spending and taxing capital. However, these proposals all faced significant obstacles in being realized. Industry lobbying has since weakened reforms, leading to ineffective policies, raising the larger question of how to understand our current period of globalization where older strategies are ineffective but new solutions seem unattainable.

In Royal Histories, Joel Z. Garrod presents a historical analysis of the Royal Bank of Canada, illustrating how Canadian capitalism and the Canadian banking industry have transformed as they have consolidated nationally and expanded abroad. Emphasizing how national institutions and rules are increasingly becoming capabilities for transnational forms of capital accumulation, the book draws on extensive primary and secondary sources to document the transformation of the assemblage of territory, authority, and rights that have supported the bank’s activities over time.

Linking the bank’s history to the policy regimes of the welfare state and neoliberalism, Garrod contends that our present period of globalization is constituted by a novel organizing dynamic that severely limits the extent to which nation-states can absorb capitalist crises or be a site of successful social reform. Connecting the Canadian experience to the wider transformation of global capitalism, Royal Histories illuminates the effects of globalization and the changing landscape of banking and finance.

Joel Z. Garrod is an assistant professor of sociology at St. Francis Xavier University.

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