La doctrina del xoc : l'ascens del capitalisme del desastre (2007)

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Just turned the last page like fifteen minutes ago, and promptly realized that this book gave me a lot of information to swallow. Thankfully, because of Klein's powerfully simple thesis, if I were ever to embroil myself in an alcohol-tinged dinner party conversation about the recent history/politics/economics of any of the countries mentioned in this book (aka Chile, Bolivia, the UK, Russia, South Africa, Poland, the Asian Tigers, China, Iraq, South Asia, Israel and America, in different periods ranging from early 70s to 2007), I would probably manage just fine.

The philosophy that Milton Friedman and his economics department at UChicago constructed, and that the IMF, World Bank, Reagan, Thatcher, Bush, etc. advanced throughout the world on behalf of corporate interests, made the world less democratic, both politically and economically. "The shock doctrine" is a revealing coinage, because it explains a tenet of this philosophy--the need to shock a population, either politically, militarily, economically, ecologically, into accepting complete, unbounded free enterprise (open up borders to multinational exploitation of economies, privatization of all sectors of the economy, remove price controls on goods--things that people wouldn't support democratically)--in quite literal terms.

It's kind of amazing that Klein managed to take all of these countries, in all of their separate recent conflicts, and tie them to this one man and his devastating ideology. It's amazing because it's totally convincing. Klein's thesis reaches so deeply into the past four decades of history that it's just so impressive and fascinating how she manages to support it so convincingly.

Some things I didn't like:

She overused the torture/shock metaphor. It was a powerful parallel, and it worked, but it was also not elegant enough for her to turn it into a major, repeated part of her thesis. I also thought that the writing could get dry at parts, just because of the overwhelming amount of information and repetition.

Overall, though, this book was a triumph. I took a class called "Globalization and Social Conflict" last semester, taught by a professor who was supposed to be incredible, but this book taught me more about the problems that arose from the ideology of globalization than those four months with Patrick Heller. So thank you, Noami Klein.
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eye-opening ( )

I bought this book quite a few years ago (it was published in 2007) and it has sat on my bookcase gathering dust ever since. I picked it up at a discount because it was packaged with another book written by John Pilger. It's probably not the kind of book I would normally read but something in it must have sparked some interest in me.

To be honest I am not too sure where to start with this book. The title is very apt, it has left me pretty shocked and a little dazzed and confused. I think I can sum it up by saying that this is one of the most remarkable and well researched books that I have read. I have read quite a lot of good non-fiction books on a wide variety of subjects and it is up there with the very best of them. It contains so much information that I started to take notes on things that I thought may help with my review.

The introductory chapters of the book seem a little cryptic at first as they are about electroshock therapy used on patients in the 40's and 50's. It then details how this was adapted by the CIA and tied up in the MK ultra project. During this time an interrogation manual was created by the CIA called KUBARK. This manual focuses partly on the fact that fear and shock can induce a short period of time in which the subject is very susceptible things that they would have been against previously. This period of time is essential in the interrogation process and a phenomenon that can be mirrored in economics.

This was popularized by Milton Friedman who called for completely free markets which no intrusion from the government. He believed that nationalized services and social care were an interference to a natural economic order which would exist. Obviously people are not going to accept a government removing social care, de-restricting prices etc so a bit of economic 'shock therapy' is needed.

In the early days of this theory there was no sure way to test this as no country could or would adopt it. Friedman argued that lots of reforms had to take place quickly and no existing leaders were willing to do it. What was needed was a new country, one with a clean slate to start from and that presented itself as South American countries that had under gone military coups or the over throwing of the government. This allowed the new leaders who bring in these changed saying that temporary hardship would give way to prosperous times. A population still reeling from coup is must more agreeable in this situation that normal. Those that were not agreeable were often put down by military force, think of Chile & Pinochet.

To keep things short the book presents a case that shows huge profits being made by companies off the back off the Iraq war, hurricane Katrina, 2004 tsunami etc. This is down to the economic demands being placed on the places involved to secure funding. Often foreign investors come in, privatize the place, employ only foreigners and then take the huge profits out the country.

There is also growing evidence to show that the IMF and World Bank were able to manipulate the markets forcing non compliant countries into financial distress by destabilizing their currency. Another way the markets were exploited in South East Asia were to take economic control of one country and create investment funds that include the markets of surrounding countries. By bringing the controlled country to its knees financially the linked funds ensured that the others were dragged into the mire. The IMF could then step in, offer a loan but only if they agreed to mass privatization and foreign investors.

This review could be so much longer, the wealth of information is incredible. There are loads of references and the research alone must have been a huge undertaking. I must say that I don't go in for conspiracy theories and I do wonder if everything is as Klein says it is. There are a few reasons why I think the book must be mostly true.1) She hasn't been sued, we live in a society where law suits are readily filed. 2) The only real criticisms of the book are based along economic lines and not questioning the human cost or figures that are portrayed.

This is an incredible book, I highly recommend it. ( )

Naomi Klein is a goddamn treasure.

If this book seems overstuffed or redundant at parts, it's because Klein's thesis explains a whole lot of recent history.

If you want to know how, by whom, and for whom power is wielded in our world, read this book. Read it now especially because it goes a long way to explaining why fascism is on the rise. (Spoiler alert: it's because of the repeated, non-democratic plunder of public wealth by private multinational corporations that are designed to thrive on political instability and economic stratification, sewing widespread poverty and violence that makes room for bigotry and hatred to ascend). ( )