The author explores what leads public banks to disregard their public service function and how one can prevent this disregard. Taking the German public banks as an example, he briefly describes their ‘mission creep’ in the form of financialization. Guided by the theory of hegemonic discourse, he interprets mission drift as part of neoliberal hegemony. This leads him to be skeptical about technocratic organizational solutions to the problem. From his discourse and analytical point of view, awareness about the public mandate seems to be of utmost importance. If the key actors of public banks are not aware of the public mandate and do not identify with the public mandate, then staying within the public mandate cannot be expected. Therefore, he argues that one needs to start with the general debate about the content of the public mandate and how public banks can contribute to it.
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Front Matter
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PART I: Justifications for public banks
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PART II: Public banks as stability anchors: Case studies
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PART III: Public banks and development
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PART IV: Political attacks on public banks in Europe
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PART V: Keeping public banks accountable to the public
