Books by William Vlcek
Journal Articles by William Vlcek
Critical Studies on Security, 2020
This article investigates a 'tale of two currencies' that played out during the 2014 Scottish Ind... more This article investigates a 'tale of two currencies' that played out during the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum. Taking our cue from securitization literature, we examine what happens when currency is framed as a security issue and threat. Studying this case, however, we find that the Copenhagen School underestimate the ability of actors to perform (de)securitizing moves within interactive games about financial security. In such instances, we contend that currency can have significant yet unpredictable effects on how security can be spoken, enacted, and contested. Drawing attention to the heated debates that erupted during the two televised debates aired by STV and BBC, we reveal that the question of currency shaped the 'Better Together' and 'Yes' campaigns during the 2014 referendum in divergent ways. In the process, we find that currency offers new opportunities for understanding how money can speak security in Scotland and beyond.
Drawing on Judith Butler's concept of injurious speech, this article conceptualises the 'Grexit' ... more Drawing on Judith Butler's concept of injurious speech, this article conceptualises the 'Grexit' crisis as a series of performances. More specifically, we investigate how the Greek government framed the bailout plans tabled by the Troika as a form of torture. By adopting phrases such as 'fiscal water-boarding', 'asphyxiation', and 'suicide', the Syriza government sought to narrate the harm inflicted on Greece by its creditors. Paying attention to this language is important as it casts new light on how Greek sovereign debt has been framed, negotiated, and contested. In many ways, the overarching objective of this article is to tell a different story that takes discursive transitivity and restaging into account. By shifting the emphasis onto injurious speech, the article also brings the unintended effects of this language into focus. Despite the recurrent accusations made by Syriza as it attempted to resolve the Greek sovereign debt crisis, this article questions whether their bargaining strategy 'misfired'. On closer consideration, we find that the injurious speech acts performed by the Syriza government compromised their ability to negotiate a third bailout deal in 2015. The observations remind us that words can wound in ambivalent ways.
Global Constitutionalism, 2013
European Security, 2007
This article analyses recent developments in the campaign to combat terrorist financing in Europe... more This article analyses recent developments in the campaign to combat terrorist financing in Europe and questions the utility of financial surveillance as a method to counter terrorism. A background presentation of surveillance in modern society is followed by an overview of earlier international initiatives to interdict money laundering. The measures used to combat terrorist finance are built upon this foundation of surveillance and criminal investigation. Applying these measures in the ‘war on terror’ has unintended consequences for the financial transactions of citizens and non-citizens alike. The article concludes by considering these problems and their impact on society within the context of a larger concern for the impact to individual liberty from these surveillance practices in pursuit of security in the early twenty-first century.
... Page 6. Hitting the right target W. Vlcek 5 different aspects of targeted sanctions.4 The Int... more ... Page 6. Hitting the right target W. Vlcek 5 different aspects of targeted sanctions.4 The Interlaken Process explored methods to improve the effectiveness of financial sanctions, and one product of this project was a manual for ...
Third World Quarterly, 2009
... In contrast to that story, Ronen Palan developed an historically derived argument that it dev... more ... In contrast to that story, Ronen Palan developed an historically derived argument that it developed as a necessary element of the states ... toward a productive investment, its passage through a bank or investment house in the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, Dubai, Singapore or ...
European Foreign Affairs Review, Dec 1, 2006
This paper examines a lacuna in the literature on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to China:... more This paper examines a lacuna in the literature on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to China: the absence of analysis for the prominent location of small Caribbean and Pacific islands as leading sources of FDI. An indeterminate amount of domestic capital is embedded in these FDI flows, which distorts comparative studies on FDI in developing economies between China and other states. Direct investment from China has also increased in recent years and offshore financial centres (OFCs) often serve as the initial destinations. This paper excavates the rationales behind the presence of OFCs and suggests that Chinese actors will emulate the practices of developed state multinational corporations and high-net-worth individuals. The implications of these investment practices are outlined along with possible trajectories for their impact on the process of financial liberalisation in China. Consequently, it encourages increased Chinese participation in the development of global financial governance.
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 00358530802057418, May 16, 2008
... Offshore banking centers: Benefits and costs. ... liberalized throughout the 1980s, facilitat... more ... Offshore banking centers: Benefits and costs. ... liberalized throughout the 1980s, facilitating increased movement of financial capital and further growth in the offshore financial sector. ... Crumbled Small: The Commonwealth Caribbean in World Politics , London: Hansib Publications ...
Global Change Peace Security, 2004
... 25 Mark P. Hampton, The Offshore Interface: Tax Havens in the Global Economy (London: Macmill... more ... 25 Mark P. Hampton, The Offshore Interface: Tax Havens in the Global Economy (London: Macmillan Press, 1996); Mark P. Hampton and Jason P. Abbott (eds), Offshore Finance Centres and Tax Havens: The Rise of Global Capital, (London: Macmillan Press, 1999). ...
The Round Table, 2008
... Offshore banking centers: Benefits and costs. ... liberalized throughout the 1980s, facilitat... more ... Offshore banking centers: Benefits and costs. ... liberalized throughout the 1980s, facilitating increased movement of financial capital and further growth in the offshore financial sector. ... Crumbled Small: The Commonwealth Caribbean in World Politics , London: Hansib Publications ...
An International Journal of Politics Culture and Society, Feb 12, 2008
Efforts to prevent and preempt further terrorist attacks in the United States and other developed... more Efforts to prevent and preempt further terrorist attacks in the United States and other developed countries have intruded into many spheres of public and private life. This article provides a short assessment of the redeployment of anti-money laundering regimes to combat the financing of terrorism. This expansion of financial surveillance is directed by international organizations and domestic legislation in the belief that terrorists and their financiers may be found, identified and detained. After providing background to the antimoney laundering regime, the article looks at the domestic and extraterritorial application of the USA PATRIOT Act. One conclusion of this analysis finds that a financial panopticon has coalesced out of the wide range of financial and non-financial businesses now required to report "suspicious financial activity."
The Round Table, 2007
... and Tensions in the Global Anti-money Laundering Regime , Centre for the ... In 1983 Richard ... more ... and Tensions in the Global Anti-money Laundering Regime , Centre for the ... In 1983 Richard Johns identified five major offshore financial centres in the Caribbean basin ... The IMF report on CaribbeanOffshore Financial Centers included data for Dominica's offshore sector for 2001 ...
The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2008
This article considers recent developments in the campaign to combat terrorist financing in Europ... more This article considers recent developments in the campaign to combat terrorist financing in Europe and the intersection of these measures with the flow of migrant remittances from the European Union (EU) to third countries. Migrants frequently leave behind families that they expect to support from their earnings. Measures to combat the financing of terrorism (CFT) and the related increase in anti-money laundering (AML) regulation make it increasingly expensive for migrants to share their wages with the family left behind. The result is a tension between the desire of migrant labour to send money home and fears of insecurity against the financing of terrorism. This issue is considered in the context of the new Regulation 'On Information on the Payer Accompanying Transfers of Funds ' (Regulation (EC) No. 1781.
International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 2008
Efforts to prevent and preempt further terrorist attacks in the United States and other developed... more Efforts to prevent and preempt further terrorist attacks in the United States and other developed countries have intruded into many spheres of public and private life. This article provides a short assessment of the redeployment of anti-money laundering regimes to combat the financing of terrorism. This expansion of financial surveillance is directed by international organizations and domestic legislation in the belief that terrorists and their financiers may be found, identified and detained. After providing background to the antimoney laundering regime, the article looks at the domestic and extraterritorial application of the USA PATRIOT Act. One conclusion of this analysis finds that a financial panopticon has coalesced out of the wide range of financial and non-financial businesses now required to report "suspicious financial activity."
Review of International Political Economy, 2012
Review of African Political Economy, 2011
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Books by William Vlcek
Journal Articles by William Vlcek