Lena Rethel

My research interests include the international politics of finance and development, the global governance of Islamic economies (finance, food, and so on) and the disciplinary parameters and spatial location of contemporary International Political Economy. Substantively, my work to date has concentrated on both the theories and common senses that underpin economic and financial policymaking, the question of how this leads to institutional change (in particular the expansion of capital markets and development of Islamic finance) and the socio-economic implications of these changes. My research draws significantly from insights from the Southeast Asia region, especially Indonesia and Malaysia.

From August 2024 to July 2029, I'm leading the research project "FINDEM-The Politics of Financial Citizenship". The project investigates how middle-class expectations shape financial policy and politics in emerging market democracies with all the ambiguities this term entails. It is funded by a UKRI Frontier Research grant (the UK guarantee scheme for successful ERC Consolidator Grant applications).