ABSTRACT
This chapter examines debates about Iraq from a perspective that synthesizes a number of theoretical social constructs, in order to develop a multidisciplinary approach to the problem. It considers legitimacy regarding offshore financial centers (Offs) and their regulatory context, rather than as an absolute ideal, or as an abstract concept, because legitimacy and consent are culturally specific matters. The chapter focuses on the issues of inclusion, exclusion, taxation, representation, regulation and legitimating as intertwined today as they were in the 1760s. It is the interconnectedness of these issues as they relate to the regulation of Offs. The chapter examines in some detail the social and political dimensions of recent international regulatory initiatives that seek to impact upon offshore financial centres (OFCs), particularly the interpretations put forward by various actors of both the legitimacy of these initiatives and responses to them, interpretations that sometimes may be contradictory.
