Voices in the City: Understanding the Role of the City of London as a Multi-Level Policy Actor and the Impact of the Financial Crisis

《城市之声》开启了伦敦金融城的黑匣子。全球金融危机使金融服务业面临前所未有的政治审查，并推动了加强监管的呼声。因此，了解伦敦金融城作为政策参与者的动态，以及它如何适应金融危机，从未像现在这样重要。很少有研究非常详细地探讨“城市”在政策过程中的作用。因此，许多重要问题仍未得到回答。我们如何才能将伦敦金融城概念化为一个政策参与者？伦敦金融城如何尝试在多个层面上塑造监管议程？全球金融危机对其政策角色有何影响？它的监管政策偏好在多大程度上得到了重新定义？我们如何解释伦敦金融城在政策过程中的影响力？为了解决这些问题，这项研究提供了一种将伦敦金融城概念化为政策参与者的新方法：分析其内部动态、政策偏好以及在国家、欧洲和国际政策过程中的游说战略。这是通过对关于银行业监管的两轮谈判进行比较分析来实现的：巴塞尔协议2(2004)和欧盟资本要求指令(2005)；以及巴塞尔3协议(2010)和欧盟资本要求指令IV(2011)。在每一种情况下，巴塞尔银行监管委员会都同意一项不具法律约束力的国际协议，然后对其进行修改，并将其转变为欧盟内部具有约束力的立法。这项研究从三个主要方面开创、检验和完善了一种理解国际金融中心角色和权力的新方法。首先，该项目采用了一个创新的分析框架，根据共同的信仰和价值观以及不同行为者之间协调游说活动的程度，系统地绘制了该市的成员名单。这旨在揭示有关伦敦金融城以一个声音说话的能力、其政策偏好和内部分歧的根源，以及伦敦金融城和威斯敏斯特之间复杂而不透明的关系的重要新见解。其次，通过考察欧洲和国际舞台上监管谈判的动态，这项研究旨在揭示伦敦金融城参与者在多个层面游说政策制定者时使用的战术、战略和叙事。最后，利用2007年开始的经济动荡前后的监管改革案例研究，确保它能够很好地解释全球金融危机对伦敦金融城的影响。这使我们能够分析它的政策偏好随着时间的推移发生了多大程度的变化，以及游说策略是如何随着政治和经济环境的根本变化而重新配置的。这项研究将利用广泛的调查数据和对政策制定者、行业监管机构、贸易代表和伦敦金融城主要公司成员的深入采访，为伦敦金融城如何在政策过程中发挥影响力提供丰富的实证说明。它还寻求吸引广泛的国际受众，鼓励分享不同的观点，并促进关于伦敦金融城未来的活跃讨论和辩论。这将通过一项雄心勃勃的跨学科联网和协作方案、国际会议报告和高影响力出版物、实践者讲习班和政策简报以及公开圆桌会议辩论来实现。简而言之，该项目有望为国家、欧洲和国际政策进程中一个至关重要但迄今被忽视的参与者提供新的线索。

'Voices in the City' sets out to unpack the black box of the City of London. The global financial crisis has exposed the financial services industry to an unprecedented level of political scrutiny and driven demands for stronger regulation. Understanding the dynamics of the City as a policy actor and how it has adapted in response to the financial crisis has therefore never been more important. Few studies have explored the role of the 'City' in the policy process in great detail. Consequently many important questions remain unanswered. How can we conceptualise the City of London as a policy actor? How does the City try to shape the regulatory agenda at multiple levels? What has been the impact of the global financial crisis on its policy role? To what extent have its regulatory policy preferences been redefined? How can we explain the City's influence within the policy process?To address these, the study offers a new way of conceptualising the City of London as a policy actor: analysing its internal dynamics, policy preferences and lobbying strategies in national, European and international policy processes. This is operationalised by undertaking a comparative analysis of two rounds of negotiations on the regulation of the banking industry: the Basel 2 agreement (2004) and EU Capital Requirements Directive (2005); and the Basel 3 agreement (2010) and EU Capital Requirements Directive IV (2011). In each case an international non-legally binding accord was agreed by the Basel Committee of Banking Supervisors, and then amended and transposed into binding legislation within the European Union. The research pioneers, tests and refines a new approach to understanding the role and power of international financial centres in three main ways. First, the project employs an innovative analytical framework to systematically map the City's membership on the basis of shared beliefs and values, and the extent to which lobbying activity is coordinated between different actors. This is intended to reveal important new insights about its capacity to speak with one voice, the origins of its policy preferences and internal divisions, and the complex and opaque relationship between the City and Westminster. Second, by examining the dynamics of regulatory negotiations in the European and international arenas, the research aims to unpack the tactics, strategies and narratives that City actors employ to lobby policy makers at multiple levels. Finally, the use of case studies of regulatory reform before and after the onset of economic turmoil that began in 2007 ensures that it is well placed to explain the impact of the global financial crisis on the City. This enables us to analyse the extent to which its policy preferences have shifted over time and how lobbying strategies have been reconfigured in response to the radically altered political and economic context.The study will draw upon extensive survey data and in-depth interviews with policy makers, industry regulators, trade representatives and members of leading City firms to provide a rich empirical account of how the City wields influence within the policy process. It also seeks to engage a wide international audience, encourage the sharing of different perspectives, and facilitate lively discussion and debate about the future of the City of London. This is to be achieved through an ambitious programme of interdisciplinary networking and collaboration, international conference presentations and high impact publications, practitioner workshops and policy briefings, and a public roundtable debate. In short, the project promises to shed new light on a critically important but hitherto neglected actor within the national, European and international policy process.