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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix The idea that became this book germinated after I had taught anarchist political philosophy in Bulgaria. With an instinctively realist outlook, students were incredulous that the tiny self-governing political units that anarchists demanded as the price of direct democracy could ever survive without being conquered or colonized. I began to wonder how very small states survive, why they have multiplied, and how they make their way in the international system.After a few abortive starts and a move to Sydney, I randomly happened on a report by the OECD that set up a struggle between the powerful member states of this organization and a group of tiny states and semi-sovereign political units labeled as tax havens. I knew nothing about tax havens, but this issue seemed to provide a good case from which to explore what happens when large and small states come into conflict. Whether small states can get away with annoying big states seems to be a question with a lot of potential for getting at some central issues in the field of International Relations. The various drafts that became this book took shape over the following four years. During this time I learned much, mainly by seeking out the experts and practitioners in this very specialized field, from academia, government, international organizations , and the financial services industry. Somewhat to my surprise, but also to my infinite benefit, I found that people from each of these backgrounds were generally willing to give up their time to speak with someone with little or no background in the field, who offered nothing in terms of fees, relief from other pressing work, or even favorable publicity.Although I was an anonymous and jet-lagged junior scholar from a distant country, pitching up on some foreign shore, the people I spoke with were extremely patient and generous with their time. It is to these people, the ma- jority of whom may not agree with much of the content of this book, that any contributions it might make are due. Both outside and inside academia some people have made an especially prominent contribution in helping me along. From those on either side of the polarized politics of the issue, special thanks go to those involved in the cut and thrust: Andreas Antoniou, Richard Murphy, John Christensen, and especially Ben Coleman. The small, energetic and incredibly supportive group of political scientists, lawyers, anthropologists, economists, accountants, and business studies scholars working in and around this area have been consistently welcoming and willing to help, particularly Ronen Palan, Sol Picciotto, and Mark Hampton in the United Kingdom, Michael Webb and Ian Goldman in Canada, Greg Rawlings and Anthony van Fossen in Australia, and Bob Kudrle and David Spencer in the United States. In Sydney, Graeme Gill, Darryl Jarvis, and John Hobson have provided crucial feedback after being repeatedly lumbered with various portions of this text. Gil Merom and Len Seabrooke provided the idea and encouragement to get in touch with Cornell University Press, and I have been extremely lucky in this match. Several research assistants were invaluable in tracking down a mountain of data on the most obscure topics I could come up with, and I am very grateful to Jesse Dillon Savage, Hugh Wehby, Ryan Thew, Jamie Drysdale, Sharni Chan, Michael Cohen, and especially Abhilash Puljal and Carla Wilshire for their hard work. The Consortium for Qualitative Research Methods workshop at Arizona State University and the European Consortium for Political Research workshop on International Organization and Implementation in Uppsala were both incredibly stimulating and exciting environments for me to reflect on many aspects of the book; the organizers and participants should know how beneficial these events were. Two anonymous reviewers from Cornell University Press went above and beyond the call of duty in providing very incisive and helpful comments on matters large and small. I am extremely fortunate to have had such expert and generous readers and I am very grateful for all their hard work. All the travel associated with the book has caused many to wonder if I spend all my time sipping cocktails on the beaches of exotic tropical islands, and others to suspect (I subsequently found out) that I was being bankrolled by one or more intelligence agencies. Unfortunately, the truth is far less glamorous. I would, however, like to thank the University of Sydney for its unstinting financial support and the Australian Research Council for Discovery Grant DP0452269, as well as...

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