The article comments on the connections between corruption and the early stages of economic development. It analyzes in case-study situations of modern commerce political imperatives which generate and rely on what in other contexts would be corruption relationships. It notes that characteristics of customary obligation counter and confuse claims of corruption. The processes through which such claims are made themselves reveal interesting conflicts between custom and constitutional legality. The article analyzes relationships between conventional economic regulators such as bank boards and law enforcement institutions including police and commercial crime investigators. Finally, the article discusses the potentially significant impact of the globalization of both economic development paradigms and associated corruption scenarios on corruption in small states. References