Offshore

Offshore
William Brittain-Catlin

I wasn’t expecting much more than some local Cayman colour and a quick look behind the headlines from this exposé on “the dark side of the global economy,” so I was surprised at the originality and depth of Brittain-Catlin’s analysis. It’s less an investigative report than a work of historical psychology, reminiscent at time of Foucault, seeing in the workings of offshore capital the expression of an id-like will to power and lust for absolute freedom. Also worth noting is the explanation of the symbiotic relationship between stateless capital and the “onshore” power of the state. The two feed each other, and not in ways that are healthy for either.