Description
As countries grapple with questions of how to transition towards more sustainable outcomes, scholars and policymakers alike have seen a resurgent interest in the possibilities of the state as a vehicle for environmental transformation. Foremost amongst the various typologies advanced in recent literature has been the derisking state, a conceptual device deployed to understand the myriad ways in which the nation-state ‘enlists private capital into achieving public priorities by tinkering with risk/returns on private investments’ (Gabor, 2023: 1). In this paper, we seek to expand our conceptual comprehension of the derisking state in twin directions such that its ability to generate empirical insights is strengthened. Initially a mapping exercise of the existing derisking literature allows for the articulation of an intervention matrix in which the different derisking strategies (monetary, fiscal, financial, regulatory) engaged in by nation-state are catalogued. Then, the paper will reveal the longer history of derisking in the United Kingdom (UK) demonstrating it as a centuries-old practice that has played a pivotal role in the formation of the British political economy.
