A Digital Fix. Digital Finance in Times of Geoeconomic Challenges

The financial system is a crucial pillar of the world economy. Because an ever-growing portion of economic activity has shifted online, scholars interested in changes in the world economy have been reflecting on the impact of the digitalisation of financial technologies and, to a lesser extent, on their causes. Despite their significance, political science has not systematically reflected the dynamics of new actors entering the field and technological advancements. The paper makes a theoretical contribution and proposes the concept of a digital fix. The concept covers three dimensions: the spatial dimension of digital finance, the problems to be fixed, and the political economy dynamics resulting from capital’s search for new investment opportunities. The paper applies the concept of a digital fix to understand policy responses in three different regions covering diverse issues like interconnectivity, interdependence, and the infrastructure of digital finance. The paper demonstrates that the concept can be used effectively to explore the role of the digital in the shift, deepening, or altering of global asymmetries and hierarchies within the international financial system, as well as the actors and interests behind these changes. This allows us to reflect on the role of digital finance in processes like geo-economisation and geo-politicisation more generally.