Financing Sovereignty

Damian Clavel is an SNSF Ambizione Fellow at the University of Zurich.

"In the collective memory, the Poyais scandal epitomizes the gullibility of investors and reckless imagination of loan pushers. In Damian Clavel's wonderful book, a new cast emerges with Central America's 'Middle Ground' as their playground, featuring native people, a Miskito ruler, Belize loggers, and the subtle geopolitics of the Isthmus." -Marc Flandreau, University of Pennsylvania "Through a riveting history of the infamous Poyais scheme, Financing Sovereignty offers a new and surprising account of how Indigenous rulers navigated the fall of the Spanish empire in Central America and how financiers in Britain became powerful actors in the unfolding drama of Latin American independence." -Joseph La Hausse de Lalouviere, University of Edinburgh "Financing Sovereignty combines a narrative that surprises at every turn and rigorous analysis of the evidence of financial speculation. As Damian Clavel both recounts shenanigans and reveals the informational and institutional context of the 'South American bubble,' he delivers a must-read for students of finance and history alike." -Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, California Institute of Technology "With prodigious research and a sober eye, Damian Clavel dramatically revises the standard narrative that reduces the Poyais scheme to the actions of an alleged con-man and his marks. He instead provides a forensic accounting of the links between finance, sovereignty, and political opportunity that characterized the aftermath of decolonization in the Americas. An ambitious and marvelous book." -Raymond Craib, Cornell University