Overview*
Starting in the 1960s with the rise of the Eurodollar market and wider liberalization of financial markets, a constantly innovating capitalism in which money flows are deregulated, informalized and globalised has transformed the world economy. One of its key features is an “offshore world” of financial structures, institutions and techniques designed to provide secrecy, asset protection and tax exemption.
The offshore world’s limited presence in the study of contemporary African political economy is striking. The purpose of this exploratory paper is to highlight this gap, provide a preliminary analysis, and suggest that the politics of African insertion in the global offshore economy merits more attention from Africa scholars.