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"开始揭开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要求。因此，了解伦敦金融城作为一个政策行为体的动态，以及它如何适应金融危机，从未如此重要。很少有研究详细探讨了“城市”在政策过程中的作用。因此，许多重要问题仍然没有答案。我们如何将伦敦金融城概念化为一个政策参与者？伦敦金融城如何在多个层面上塑造监管议程？全球金融危机对其政策作用有何影响？在多大程度上重新界定了其监管政策偏好？我们如何解释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新的方式概念化的伦敦作为一个政策行为体的城市：分析其内部动态，政策偏好和游说策略，在国家，欧洲和国际政策进程。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2协议（2004年）和欧盟资本要求指令（2005年）;以及巴塞尔3协议（2010年）和欧盟资本要求指令四（2011年）。在每一种情况下，巴塞尔银行监督委员会都商定了一项不具法律约束力的国际雅阁，然后加以修订，并转化为欧洲联盟内具有约束力的立法。该研究从三个主要方面开拓、测试和完善了理解国际金融中心作用和力量的新方法。首先，该项目采用了一个创新的分析框架，根据共同的信念和价值观，系统地绘制纽约市成员的地图，以及不同行为体之间协调游说活动的程度。这是为了揭示重要的新见解，其能力，以一个声音说话，其政策偏好和内部分歧的起源，以及复杂和不透明的关系之间的城市和威斯敏斯特。其次，通过研究欧洲和国际舞台上监管谈判的动态，研究旨在揭示伦敦金融城参与者在多个层面上游说政策制定者的战术、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，确保了它能够很好地解释全球金融危机对纽约市的影响。这使我们能够分析其政策偏好随着时间的推移发生了多大程度的变化，以及如何重新配置游说策略，以应对急剧变化的政治和经济环境。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、贸易代表和主要金融城公司的成员提供了丰富的经验，说明金融城如何在政策过程中发挥影响力。它还寻求吸引广泛的国际观众，鼓励分享不同的观点，并促进关于伦敦金融城未来的热烈讨论和辩论。这将通过一项雄心勃勃的跨学科网络与合作方案、国际会议介绍和影响力大的出版物、从业人员讲习班和政策简报以及公开圆桌辩论来实现。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行为体提供新的视角。

'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.