This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. Debt as power is a timely and innovative contribution to our understanding of one of the most prescient issues of our time: the explosion of debt across the global economy and related requirement of political leaders to pursue exponential growth to meet the demands of creditors and investors. The book is distinctive in offering a historically sensitive and comprehensive analysis of debt as an interconnected and global phenomenon.

Introduction: Towards a stark utopia1. Origins: war, national debt and the capitalist state2. Intensification: war, debt and colonial power3. Consequences: Exponential growth, magic money and austerity4. What is to be done?BibliographyIndex