{"product_id":"banking-on-the-state-hicham-safieddine-9781503609679","title":"Banking on the State: The Financial Foundations of Lebanon","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1943, Lebanon gained its formal political independence from France; only after two more decades did the country finally establish a national central bank. Inaugurated on April 1, 1964, the Banque du Liban (BDL) was billed by Lebanese authorities as the nation's primary symbol of economic sovereignty and as the last step towards full independence. In the local press, it was described as a means of projecting state power and enhancing national pride. Yet the history of its founding--stretching from its Ottoman origins in mid-nineteenth century up until the mid-twentieth--tells a different, more complex story.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBanking on the State\u003c\/i\u003e reveals how the financial foundations of Lebanon were shaped by the history of the standardization of economic practices and financial regimes within the decolonizing world. The system of central banking that emerged was the product of a complex interaction of war, economic policies, international financial regimes, post-colonial state-building, global currents of technocratic knowledge, and private business interests. It served rather than challenged the interests of an oligarchy of local bankers. As Hicham Safieddine shows, the set of arrangements that governed the central bank thus was dictated by dynamics of political power and financial profit more than market forces, national interest or economic sovereignty.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Hicham Safieddine\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1503609677\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781503609679\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Stanford University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/02\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.95lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2019","brand":"Hicham Safieddine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44079394619647,"sku":"9781503609679","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_178ee596-e568-44cc-a36e-5a8dd77cd1b5.jpg?v=1685480894","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/banking-on-the-state-hicham-safieddine-9781503609679","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}