Offshore finance centers have lifted a host of small countries from poverty and facilitated the growth of global financial capital has precipitated a number of crises. This interdisciplinary collection of essays explores the origins of the current situation from the perspectives of economics, geography, international law, and international politics. Whether focusing on such theoretical issues as the state as legal fiction and the concept of sovereignty or exploring case studies on specific tax havens - including Malaysia, Malta, and South Africa - these timely essays remind us that the challenges of the 1990s will accompany us into the twenty-first century. Offshore Finance Centers and Tax Havens is essential reading for business leaders, policymakers, and scholars in the fields of law, economics, and international relations.