Additional Information
Biography
Interest Areas
Economic Sociology, Political Economy, Global Development, Political Sociology, Finance
My current research follows two broad agendas. The first draws on mixed methods to evaluate the shifting state-market relations that now define climate governance. Here I am completing a dissertation project on France’s turn toward “ecological planning” under the country’s National Low-Carbon Strategy. Previously, I have analyzed the effects of green industrial policy on multinational emitters and written on the derisking of energy transitions in the Global South.
The second agenda centers on “financial democracy” — the project of broadening participation in financial systems to ensure the provision of public goods. Recently, I have completed a comparative study on the governance structure of public asset managers in France, Singapore, and China. In addition, I am currently supporting research and advocacy on the popular contestation of infrastructure financing in the rural US. I hope to expand on this work by investigating how financial systems become legible as sites of political struggle.
Publications
Gabriel Kahan. “The Machinery of the Plan: Credit Sovereignty in France, 1946-2026.” In Preparation.
Gabriel Kahan, Daniel Seel. “Democracy as Investment: A Comparative Analysis of Public Asset Managers.” Under Review.
Gabriel Kahan. “The Social Life of Conditionality: Green Industrial Policy in Post-Dirigiste France.” Under Review.
Gabriel Kahan. 2025. “Green Transitions in the Periphery: Derisking, Dependency, and Alternative State-Capital Relations” in The Emerald Handbook of Sustainable Energy Transition and Social Justice. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83708-812-620251002
Media & Events
Melanie Brusseler, Isabel Estevez, Gabriel Kahan, Justus Henze, Solveig Degen. “Green Planning for Transition and Policy.” Invited Panel, Common Wealth, Virtual, April 14, 2026. Program here.
Gabriel Kahan, Antoine Jourdan, Alex Amiotte Suchet, Clara Leonard, Hannah Bensussan, Hugo Pompougnac, Éric Monnet. “Planification Écologique: Reality and Aspiration.” Workshop, Sciences Po, Paris, March 19, 2026. Program here.