This title explains how creditors came to wield unprecedented power over heavily indebted countries-and the dangers this poses to democracy. The European debt crisis has rekindled long-standing debates about the power of finance and the fraught relationship between capitalism and democracy in a globalized world. This book unravels why, despite frequent crises and the immense costs of repayment, so many heavily indebted countries continue to service their international debts. It investigates the political economy of sovereign debt and international crisis management and uses history to shed new light on recent turmoil inside the Eurozone. Using case studies, this volume paints a disconcerting picture of the ascendancy of global finance and shows how the profound transformation of the capitalist world economy over the past four decades has endowed creditors with unprecedented power over borrowers, with devastating social consequences and far-reaching implications for democracy.