Author(s): Stefan Eich

Theory

This deep intellectual history recovers the foundational ideas at the intersection of monetary rule and democratic politics, drawing on insights from key political thinkers to show how money is not just a medium of exchange but also a central institution of political rule. In this timely and incisive book, Stefan Eich examines six crucial episodes of monetary crisis to reconstruct the neglected political theories of money in the thought of such figures as Aristotle, John Locke, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes. The Currency of Politics shows how these layers of crisis have come to define the way we look at money, and why informed public debate about money requires a better appreciation of the diverse political struggles over its meaning.