Prof Stefan Eich: The Currency of Politics

In this IPR lecture, Stefan Eich (Assistant Professor of Government at Georgetown University) joins us to discuss his book "The Currency of Politics: The Political Theory of Money from Aristotle to Keynes". Money appears to be beyond the reach of democratic politics, but this appearance - like so much about money - is deceptive. Even when the politics of money is impossible to ignore, its proper democratic role can be difficult to discern. In "The Currency of Politics", Eich examines six crucial episodes of monetary crisis, recovering the neglected political theories of money in the thought of such figures as Aristotle, John Locke, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes. He shows how these layers of crisis have come to define the way we look at money and argues that informed public debate about money requires a better appreciation of the diverse political struggles over its meaning. Recovering foundational ideas at the intersection of monetary rule and democratic politics, "The Currency of Politics" explains why only through greater awareness of the historical limits of monetary politics can we begin to articulate more democratic conceptions of money. This IPR lecture took place on 24 May 2023.