Justin Robertson - Böcker

Informed by world-systems analysis, this book examines the shifting patterns of accommodation and resistance to the offshore world, with a particular focus on Mauritius as a critical but underappreciated offshore node mediating foreign investment into India and Africa. Drawing on a large pool of financial data and elite interviews, the authors present the first detailed comparative study of the Mauritius–India and Mauritius–Africa offshore relationships. These relationships serve as indicative test cases of the contemporary global tax reform agenda and its promise to rein in offshore finance. Whereas India’s economic power and multilateral track record have enabled it to actively shape this agenda and implement it in a robust manner, most African countries have found themselves either unable to meet its stringent criteria or unwilling to do so out of fear that it might discourage investment. Its impact on offshore financial centers has likewise been limited. A few of the least sophisticated ones appear to have fallen by the wayside, but the rest have either remained largely unaffected, or, like Mauritius, succeeded in consolidating their operations and surviving the current round of regulatory headwinds. The findings suggest that the contemporary global tax reform agenda has thus far not only failed to make good on its promise but also actually reinforced numerous existing power hierarchies. The Uneven Offshore World is written in an accessible style and aimed at readers without specialized knowledge of tax issues.

Informed by world-systems analysis, this book examines the shifting patterns of accommodation and resistance to the offshore world, with a particular focus on Mauritius as a critical but underappreciated offshore node mediating foreign investment into India and Africa. Drawing on a large pool of financial data and elite interviews, the authors present the first detailed comparative study of the Mauritius–India and Mauritius–Africa offshore relationships. These relationships serve as indicative test cases of the contemporary global tax reform agenda and its promise to rein in offshore finance. Whereas India’s economic power and multilateral track record have enabled it to actively shape this agenda and implement it in a robust manner, most African countries have found themselves either unable to meet its stringent criteria or unwilling to do so out of fear that it might discourage investment. Its impact on offshore financial centers has likewise been limited. A few of the least sophisticated ones appear to have fallen by the wayside, but the rest have either remained largely unaffected, or, like Mauritius, succeeded in consolidating their operations and surviving the current round of regulatory headwinds. The findings suggest that the contemporary global tax reform agenda has thus far not only failed to make good on its promise but also actually reinforced numerous existing power hierarchies. The Uneven Offshore World is written in an accessible style and aimed at readers without specialized knowledge of tax issues.

In a world of continuing financial volatility, this book critically evaluates the oft-cited claim that US firms and the US government attempt to open emerging markets in economic distress and acquire valuable industrial and financial assets.Focusing particularly on Korea and Thailand, the author examines the degree of market opening, the roles US actors played in this process and the level of foreign firm activity in the years after the Asian crisis. Justin Robertson finds surprisingly little coherence between the strategies of US firms and US policy-makers. At the same time, the book downplays European investments, concluding instead that the decade since the Asian crisis has reaffirmed strengths of US capital, particularly in some of the most important sectors of the global economy. Investment banking, private equity and subcontracting are significant new features of US-Asia economic relations.Providing a sophisticated understanding of US interests in Asia, especially in terms of the politics of finance capital, and including a wealth of empirical data on the US and Asian political economies, this book will be invaluable for students and scholars of international political economy and Asian economics and politics.

This volume explores the foreign policy environment facing developing nations and their particular foreign policy-making structures and processes. By defining foreign policy broadly to incorporate the activities of a range of state actors and non-state actors, the book broadens the range of analytical frameworks for studying foreign policy-making in developing nations. Thus, the actions of small groups of elites, international institutions and transnational networks are seen to be part of foreign policy-making, as well as the traditional operations of foreign ministries.The volume is comprised of an extensive introduction, four thematic chapters, six country studies and a conclusion that ties together common themes. These serve as a useful contribution to the analysis of foreign policy-making in developing nations, a neglected area in the comparative study of foreign policy.

This volume explores the foreign policy environment facing developing nations and their particular foreign policy-making structures and processes. By defining foreign policy broadly to incorporate the activities of a range of state actors and non-state actors, the book broadens the range of analytical frameworks for studying foreign policy-making in developing nations. Thus, the actions of small groups of elites, international institutions and transnational networks are seen to be part of foreign policy-making, as well as the traditional operations of foreign ministries.The volume is comprised of an extensive introduction, four thematic chapters, six country studies and a conclusion that ties together common themes. These serve as a useful contribution to the analysis of foreign policy-making in developing nations, a neglected area in the comparative study of foreign policy.

In a world of continuing financial volatility, this book critically evaluates the oft-cited claim that US firms and the US government attempt to open emerging markets in economic distress and acquire valuable industrial and financial assets.Focusing particularly on Korea and Thailand, the author examines the degree of market opening, the roles US actors played in this process and the level of foreign firm activity in the years after the Asian crisis. Justin Robertson finds surprisingly little coherence between the strategies of US firms and US policy-makers. At the same time, the book downplays European investments, concluding instead that the decade since the Asian crisis has reaffirmed strengths of US capital, particularly in some of the most important sectors of the global economy. Investment banking, private equity and subcontracting are significant new features of US-Asia economic relations.Providing a sophisticated understanding of US interests in Asia, especially in terms of the politics of finance capital, and including a wealth of empirical data on the US and Asian political economies, this book will be invaluable for students and scholars of international political economy and Asian economics and politics.

'A writer of fierce and vivid imagination. The Tangle, like Holdstock's classic Mythago Wood and Catlin's The Voorh, taps the deep resonances of the wild wood in the English soul, revering even the stones as living minds, possessed of souls and ancient memories. Visceral stuff from this promising new star of dark fantasy' Michael MoorcockJustin Robertson's debut novel is a trans- dimensional trip into the mysterious knot of nature; a journey into the 'brilliant darkness' where the timeless divine spirit of the 'Tangle' weaves its spell and all mankind's hubris is rendered insignificant by the radically non-human force of phantom ecology. Salvation, revelation and a terrible reckoning dwell in the ancient roots ...A time travelling account of what occurs when unknowable frontiers are breached and humanity finds itself, once again, lost in the woods, THE TANGLE invites us into a grotesque world of eco-horror, echoing with the spirit of writers such as Saki, Ballard, M R James, Ursula Le Guin, Brian Catling and Thomas Ligotti.