The politics of the invisible: offshore finance and state power. A country-level comparison

Seen from offshore, the shape of the contemporary international economy appears quite different from the conventional view. Some of its most fundamental elements appear bigger – for instance the amount of US dollar created offshore – or smaller – for instance the volume of foreign direct investment – than standard statistics suggest. That is, despite a growing body of research, important elements of the offshore economy remain invisible for researchers and the general public alike. What has become clear, however, is that offshore financial services are a central part of the international economy. They are used by wealthy individuals and corporations regularly and on a large scale. The purpose is to access credit not available onshore, to minimise tax bills, to avoid government regulations and to obscure legally and illegally made fortunes. Against the background of an offshore economy that is large in volume, but small in visibility the dissertation asks: How does offshore finance affect the power of the state to unite resources in order to finance its politics? The inquiry into the power relationship between offshore finance and the state immediately raises questions about the nature of the modern state and the delineation between the offshore and the onshore economy. To avoid getting lost in the theory of the state or impoverishing the analysis by ignoring the concept altogether, I develop an analytical perspective that I call ‘the money view’ on the state by employing Max Weber’s concept of the modern state in combination with Geoffrey Ingham’s notion of sovereign money. The money view considers state power to be a function of the debtor-creditor relationships between the government, taxpayers and financiers. Regarding offshore finance, the thesis starts from the premise that offshore centres are tax havens and international banking hubs reflecting the intrinsic connection between taxation and banking through sovereign money in the onshore economy. Within this analytical frame, the thesis conducts a historical comparison across four cases: Britain, Germany, Mexico and Brazil. For each case, I determine the scope and pattern of the demand for offshore financial services based on international banking statistics and qualitative interviews. The findings are contextualised in a historical institutionalist analysis of taxation and banking in the respective country. These two analytical steps are then combined to determine the effect of offshore finance on state power. The thesis finds that the relationship between offshore finance and state power varies from country to country. Yet, across all cases offshore money creation in the Eurodollar markets is more consequential for the power of the state than is offshore tax planning.Gates Cambridge Trus

Political Bosses In Urban America: Corruption or Contribution?

In the years following the Civil War, America’s cities grew dramatically, not only because of the Industrial Revolution, but because of the influx of immigrants. The result was political chaos, and the part-time politician couldn\u27t handle the change. From this disorganization, the political boss, a distinctive breed, emerged. Even though many bosses were involved in graft and corruption, they also replaced chaos with order. Most of the early bosses in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century came from either the corner saloon or the volunteer fire department. In either setting they were able to sell themselves as “people’s men,” who were down to earth and interested in service to humanity

Challenges in Investigating and Prosecuting Trafficking In Persons’ Cases in Nigeria

The war against trafficking in persons in Nigeria is by no means an easy one. Several measures have been employed in ensuring that trafficking is brought to a halt in Nigeria. The efficacy of these measures, this work contends, extends to effective investigation and prosecution of trafficking in person’s cases. Regrettably, investigation and prosecution of trafficking in persons’ cases in Nigeria have faced a plethora of challenges, thereby making realization of the objectives of the consciously institutionalized mechanisms for combating trafficking in person in Nigeria, far from being wholly realized. The paper concludes that with a much more effective legislation on human trafficking, effective and efficient law enforcement agent and agencies in place, the challenges in investigating and prosecuting Trafficking in Persons’ Cases in Nigeria would be overcome. KEY WORDS: Challenges, Investigating, Prosecuting, Trafficking, Persons, Efficacy

Understanding Crime in Colombia and What Can Be Done About It

Abstract. We attempt to spell out the causes and costs of Colombia´s crime situation. Homicide rates are the highest in the world, three times higher than those of Brazil & Mexico and ten times higher than those of other Latin American countries. Paradoxically, Colombia is not exceptional with relation to property crime. In recent years, homicide rates have dropped in some of the most violent regions. Our conclusion is that drug trafficking coupled with low levels of punishment to criminals are the most important contributors to Colombian exceptional homicide rates. In relation to guerrillas, we find that their activities explain the high rates of kidnapping (and, in particular, its recent upsurge), but they are little related to the evolution of homicide rates. Socioeconomic factors, such as, income inequality and poverty, and sociological factors, such as the notion that Colombians are more violent by nature, do not appear to be the central explanation of crime rates in this country. Accordingly, our main policy recommendations are as follows: more and better information is required, lessening corruption in the criminal justice system is paramount, independent units for fighting kidnapping and homicides are needed, and financing the guerrillas so that they stop kidnapping should be explored. Most of our recommendations are related to the Colombian criminal justice system, the Plan Colombia and the drug policy.Violencia, Crimen, Economía Institucional, Reformas Institucionales