Sovereignty, size and money are the three defining characteristics for the offshore financial centre in the Caribbean. The conflict at the centre of this study involves the attempt by a group of large developed countries to force small developing countries to change their domestic tax laws. Looking first at the international harmful tax competition project begun in 1998, the book then demonstrates the important economic contribution provided by an offshore financial centre to a small country. From this analysis the author demonstrates the motivations behind the individual and collective actions taken by small countries to resist the project. By standing firm against the pressure to change their laws they demonstrated the continued relevance of sovereignty in international society, and most especially its importance to the small post-colonial country. The book contributes to wider debates involving globalization, development and international finance with its analysis of the under-researched topic of offshore finance.
Endorsement for the current edition:
'Vlcek begins the task of tackling what must be the single greatest threat to Caribbean small state sovereignty - compliance enforcement on the part of the OECD on Caribbean OFCs, where their determined tax policies are reframed as harmful tax initiatives to woo international business. This is an offensive that dovetails with anti-money laundering imperatives and efforts to shut down terrorist finance networks, matters that increasingly hold the potential for imperilling US-Caribbean relations, and rendering illegitimate the offshore financial niche that defines the competitive advantage of some of these islands. 'Offshore Finance and Small States' introduces this discussion, encouraging the reader to pursue greater interrogation of the power-politics, values and regimes involved.'
'The specific address of how the provision of offshore financial services articulates with Caribbean small economies and the illiberal logic girding the OECD's harmful tax postulate, makes this book especially required reading for IR/IPE specialists and students, economists, and the wider professional community.'
Both Don D. Marshall, Senior Research Fellow in Political Science, University of the West Indies.
‘…[an] immaculately researched account…the volume has originality and will be of interest to scholars engaged in the debates over globalisation, development & international finance.’ Peter Clegg, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics
International Norms and the Practice of Sovereignty
Sovereignty and taxation
Global financial governance and tax competition
Resistance and withdrawal
Small States in the Commonwealth and Elsewhere
Caribbean offshore finance under pressure
A future for sovereignty at the margins
WILLIAM VLCEK is Lecturer in International Politics with the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. Following a nineteen-year career in government and private industry in the United States, he received his PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2006.
Description
Sovereignty, size and money are the three defining characteristics for the offshore financial centre in the Caribbean. The conflict at the centre of this study involves the attempt by a group of large developed countries to force small developing countries to change their domestic tax laws. Looking first at the international harmful tax competition project begun in 1998, the book then demonstrates the important economic contribution provided by an offshore financial centre to a small country. From this analysis the author demonstrates the motivations behind the individual and collective actions taken by small countries to resist the project. By standing firm against the pressure to change their laws they demonstrated the continued relevance of sovereignty in international society, and most especially its importance to the small post-colonial country. The book contributes to wider debates involving globalization, development and international finance with its analysis of the under-researched topic of offshore finance.
Reviews
Endorsement for the current edition:
'Vlcek begins the task of tackling what must be the single greatest threat to Caribbean small state sovereignty - compliance enforcement on the part of the OECD on Caribbean OFCs, where their determined tax policies are reframed as harmful tax initiatives to woo international business. This is an offensive that dovetails with anti-money laundering imperatives and efforts to shut down terrorist finance networks, matters that increasingly hold the potential for imperilling US-Caribbean relations, and rendering illegitimate the offshore financial niche that defines the competitive advantage of some of these islands. 'Offshore Finance and Small States' introduces this discussion, encouraging the reader to pursue greater interrogation of the power-politics, values and regimes involved.'
'The specific address of how the provision of offshore financial services articulates with Caribbean small economies and the illiberal logic girding the OECD's harmful tax postulate, makes this book especially required reading for IR/IPE specialists and students, economists, and the wider professional community.'
Both Don D. Marshall, Senior Research Fellow in Political Science, University of the West Indies.
‘…[an] immaculately researched account…the volume has originality and will be of interest to scholars engaged in the debates over globalisation, development & international finance.’ Peter Clegg, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics
Contents
International Norms and the Practice of Sovereignty
Sovereignty and taxation
Global financial governance and tax competition
Resistance and withdrawal
Small States in the Commonwealth and Elsewhere
Caribbean offshore finance under pressure
A future for sovereignty at the margins
Authors
WILLIAM VLCEK is Lecturer in International Politics with the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. Following a nineteen-year career in government and private industry in the United States, he received his PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2006.
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