A Thesis on the Impact of the Growth in Derivatives on National Sovereignty

Greetings to all: 

Long story short, I'm an M.A. student in International Relations who was the one guy among my friends in my Wall Street-feeding high school that had no interest in Economics or ever going into business or learning about finance. This did not change until I entered the job market just as the crisis began to unfurl and suddenly I could not buy a job. I've ended up in grad school doing what I pretty much wanted to all along, but I've to my horror become deeply interested in the world of finance and its impacts on the political world at large. 

So essentially what I'm looking for is a direction to walk towards in terms of what to read, what to look at, and what I need to know so that as I write this thesis over the next year I'm not just talking out my ass like everyone else. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Sosa