Le cas du Jersey international Finance Center, un révélateur des tensions dans un paradis fiscal insulaire : essai d’analyse géopolitique locale

Abstract

In Jersey, the development of the financial sector in the second half of the twentieth century has been coupled with a crisis in agriculture and tourism. These post industrial restructuring have contributed to the construction of an insular space under high tension, as shown by the growing number of demonstrations. Public, private and civil society actors all share the same space but fail to converge and share the potential benefits. These actors with divergent views are gathered together on a territory of 116 km², which makes the island a condensed expression of a local geopolitical confrontation. Since 2015, the construction of a financial center, the Jersey International Finance Center, has crystallized these tensions related to the different perceptions of the financial hyper-specialization of the island. A reading of the conflict can be done using tools of local geopolitics, which disantangle the opposing interests of the island’s players and their consequences.

Keywords

• finance
• identity
• Jersey
• local geopolitics
• representations
• tax haven