Introducing Sovereign Wealth Funds

Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) represent not only an increasingly prominent player in the alternative investor ecosystem, but also a novel mechanism through which governments may project their power, and serve geopolitical and strategic interests abroad. There is a body of existing literature that suggests that the directly observable political effects of SWF activity are very limited. However, the ability of national governments to dispense, withdraw or withhold capital represents an important dimension of soft power abroad, and there is considerable evidence that the indirect effects of SWF investments may have considerable wider political, social, and economic effects, as outlined in the various chapters in this book. The growing body of evidence on the consequences of SWF activities highlight the need to develop and extend existing theories of institutions and the state, and the role of alternative investors as transnational actors.