Introduction

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the key ideas and arguments discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. It begins with a basic background of Mauritius as an offshore financial center, its historically close offshore relationship with India, and its more recent attempts to foster a similarly close offshore relationship with Africa. It lays the foundations for comparing these two relationships, situating them within larger debates on continuity and change in the global economy following the global financial crisis, particularly in the context of the contemporary global tax reform agenda targeting offshore finance. It argues that a careful examination of these two relationships reveals that the new global standards stemming from this agenda have inhibited but not eliminated the excesses of the offshore world, resulting in differentiated outcomes among developed, emerging, and developing countries, as well as among offshore financial centers.