Finance was never disembedded, so Polanyian reembedding is a false solution.

Evidence

Konings’s (2018) criticism, for example, focuses on the state’s inherent deep endorsement of speculative finance (e.g., through its role as guarantor of major banks) in a way that serves to sustain neoliberalism. As he emphasizes, “the Polanyian countermovement” fails to materialize, as neoliberalism manages to “suspend its contradictions and to defer its demise” (127). Konings points here to the inherent overlap of passions and interests in the constitution of neoliberalism. The policy implications of this view are that financial markets and their governance do not have to be reembedded, for they should not be considered disembedded in the first place. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 491

Categorization

• QUESTION: This challenges the counter-movements chapter’s premise the reader is evaluating — worth checking whether the author’s counter-speculation concedes exactly this point.