David Westbrook

David Albert Westbrook is a German-born American author, academic and legal expert. He is Louis A. Del Cotto professor and co-directs the NYC Program in Finance and Law at the University at Buffalo School of Law, State University of New York.

Westbrook writes on the social and intellectual consequences of contemporary political economy as expressed in corporations and finance, international law, globalization and social theory. Westbrook has authored several books including City Of Gold: An Apology for Global Capitalism in a Time of Discontent, Navigators of the Contemporary: Why Ethnography Matters, and Getting Through Security: Counterterrorism, Bureaucracy, and a Sense of the Modern.

During the 2008 financial crisis, Westbrook spoke about political economy and the fragilities of capitalism in China, Pakistan, Jamaica, Brazil and Portugal.

Political economy Westbrook has researched on political economy and discussed the contextual changes in politics and highlighted how globalization affected the law. In the early 2010s, he authored a paper discussing the economy of North Atlantic countries and highlighted the presented approaches for collective thinking and decision making. Westbrook focused on three movements and discussed the various methods for forming an elite consensus along with the relevant major conceptual obstacles.

Westbrook published his book, City Of Gold: An Apology for Global Capitalism in a Time of Discontent in 2003. The book was reviewed as "a powerful demonstration of the limits at which global capitalism may be seen as an effective and efficient way of organizing economic interaction in our cosmopolitan society." According to E. Fuat Keyman, "In City of Gold, Westbrook makes a significant contribution to the literature on globalization by going beyond a purely market-based or a state-centric analysis of social change".

Corporations and finance After the 2008 financial crisis, Westbrook focused on the failures of classical economic thought, and discussed new ways to regulate financial markets

In 2010, Westbrook published his book, Out of Crisis: Rethinking Our Financial Markets''', which was reviewed as "a fascinating new book" which "is a compelling and entertaining diatribe against some of the sacred cows of finance." Mae Kuykendall reviewed that "Westbrook draws on his wide knowledge of law, finance, literary theory, cultural anthropology, and political history to guide us through our recent disaster."

Westbrook's work on corporations and finance also includes his book, Between Citizen and State: An Introduction to the Corporation.

International law Westbrook has also conducted research on international law, focusing especially on security, environment, and Islam. He focused on sustainable development and discussed the visions of history and the pragmatism of environmentalists. He presented his ideas regarding sustainability and stressed upon sustainable development as a pragmatic concept.

In 2011, Westbrook published Deploying Ourselves: Islamist Violence, Globalization, and the Responsible Projection of U.S. Force.