The uneven geographies of trust(s)

Finance capitalism, transnational legal innovation and shifting scales of institutional faith from decolonisation to post-socialism

Bibliographic Data

ID21189426
AuthorsEric Loefflad (0000-0002-8005-5807, University of Kent, corresponding author), Veronika Stoyanova (0000-0002-6104-4432, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)
Year2026
Volume22
Issue3
Pages1-23
Publication date2026-06-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Law in Context (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1744-5523 • E-ISSN: 1744-5531
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1744552326100597
OpenAlexW7165797606
LanguageEN
References cited93

Building on Roger Cotterrell’s call to theorise the law of trusts in relation to trust as an all-pervasive sociopolitical phenomenon, we explore the interplay between these two concepts of trust in relation to the rise of neoliberalism. Here, we centre how the ability of offshore trusts to evade tax/regulatory obligations compromises the ability of sovereign states to build institutions that nurture trust. Historicising this dynamic, we turn to how the rise of a post-imperial world of sovereign states in the context of decolonisation and the Cold War prompted elite interest in transnational legal innovations – especially trusts – that could avoid state-led redistribution efforts. Empowered by various crises, such innovations became central to neoliberal globalisation and its erosion of trust in the sovereign state. Focus on these material dynamics provides a new lens for conceptualising the failure of human rights and anti-corruption projects whose state-centric outlook detracts attention from broader transnational forces

Boom · Context (archaeology) · Decolonization · Elite · Faith · Globalization · Human rights · Sovereignty · Environmental law and policy · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Legal principles and applications

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