The strange geographies of 'emerging markets'

There are hundreds of books and thousands of articles that make reference t o 'emerging markets'. In the UK alone, there are dozens of specialist inves tment brokers (unit trusts, investment funds and the like) specializing in 'emerging markets', each with associated expertise and literature. Noting t hat the rise of references to 'emerging markets' in investment and associat ed texts is symptomatic of a transforming (post-Cold War) geopolitics, this paper contextualizes the origins and traces the dissemination of the conce pt. We therefore make some preliminary observations on the emergence of 'em erging markets', specifying the material backdrops of increased private cap ital flows, including equity investments in(to) 'peripheral' countries hith erto more usually designated as 'Second' or 'Third' World. We then reflect on the 'strange' geographies of 'emerging markets'. Examining the combinati on of interests and agents involved in the construction of 'emerging market s', we argue that their 'strangeness', novelty or unfamiliarity belies deep er continuities with colonial geographical imaginations.