Ben Clift traveled the world as a teacher for the Department of Defense and as a dance host on various cruise lines. He also had a rather checkered background when it came to summer jobs while teaching in Montana. He had administrative positions in two different private schools in Switzerland. He accumulated a few Clift Notes along the way.

This volume links such populism to a specific set of tensions - the paradox of neo-liberal democracy - and argues that the phenomenon is ubiquitous. The mandate of politicians is to defend the economic interests of their constituents under conditions where large parts of economic governance are no longer exclusively within their control.

Differences in the way national economies are organized have been highlighted in academic and policy debates. provides studies of key national economies, examining both enduring features of their economic institutions and how these have changed in response to international economic integration and divergent performance.

This book analyses the IMF's role as arbiter of legitimate economic policy since the 2008 crash, and during aftershocks of the Eurozone crisis.