MuleSkinner Book Recommendation #9

The Shock Doctrine. Rise of the Disaster Capitalism

(By Naomi Klein)
Metropolitan Books 2007

”Everywhere the Chicago School crusade has triumphed, it has created a permanent underclass of between 25 and 60 percent of the population. It is always a form of war. But when that warlike economic model of mass evictions and discarded cultures is imposed in a country that is already ravaged by disaster and scarred by ethnic conflict, the dangers are far greater. There are, as Keynes argued all those years ago, political consequences to this kind of punitive peace – including the outbreak of even bloodier wars.” (Shock Doctrine, p. 405)

Our next book in recommendation on these series appears quite exceptional to earlier ones reviewed; the real faces of corporate world trade markets(from recent decades) as subject and also to a certain amount political histories related to them. These are perhaps not our best field of expertise, and in general we don't have much interest on politics, but one could then add: the more important that we here include such books in our recommendations too. These reviews, as usual, may of course be a little delayed like everything in MSW, and Klein's book probably having already achieved a wide renown status like her earlier 'gospel' No Logo - Taking aim at the Brand Bullies (2000). But we think it has a lot to tell, so we're including it here anyway.

So, this as next recommendation, though we've in general mostly included reviews of fiction literature. One another thing we could also mention; our earlier (paper books) reviewed, 4 (Burroughs, Dostoevsky, Gogol, Brink) out of 5 were by male writers, so perhaps we should give a place in the following 3 for the women. That said, just to keep these somewhat balanced, obviously there's not any real argument on behalf of choosing reviewed books on the basis of authors sex.

As the book (Shock Doctrine) will likely be considered, to some level at least, as a following for No Logo, it raises the temptation to think the latter as most obvious comparison. And the books have a lot of similarities, not least in the way she uses the material sourced to prove her points. In general, one could say, that the main theses in the Shock Doctrine are more grounded on the backgrounds of globalization markets and the fuelling and maintenance of the 'doctrines' linked to them. Also, the book achieves less documenting tone but aims to have even more to tell from the current historical and economical momentum in the light of these past histories 'revealed'. So, on the basis of topics discussed we suppose that perhaps Shock Doctrine may not be read as widely and not gain just as generally acknowledged status than her earlier book, but it has all the criteria to settle down for even longer lasting place in the long run. Remembering that No Logo may possibly have been the most influential book in spreading the knowledge from things like sweat-shops, brand-washing and corporate tactics, we predict that these 'untold stories' in the path of free market economics will continue popularizing the story's backgrounds to the masses as well. But, it won't probably sell quite as numerously.

Anyway, it can be noted that the reader possibly also finds many episodes, that remembers having heard, seen or otherways come to knowledge during recent years. At least in passing newspapers. What the book in particular offers is a wider context to place these events at, the main reason why we find it as most recommendable here (not excluding our curiosity arising from the introduction of term 'disaster capitalism'). Personally, we may think (and are quick to point out) that many of the stories told actually have a far longer historical roots and backgrounds than necessary presented here. But, I guess this kind of story must be limited to a certain overall time gap, and in here it seems to be from 1970 to the years prevalent its publication.

Notwithstanding, it must also be said for the books praise; Klein's sources are again as numerous as the branches of this story, there's some 60 pages of notes only, which naturally makes persuasive basis for the conclusions presented. Although one might feel she sometimes uses intentionally striking sentences and merely aggressive words for their own shock-value, it is also as understandable as the addressed topics are just as gruesome. Her main criticisms, naturally is directed towards free market capitalism and the followers of Milton Freedman's theorems, in U.S. and elsewhere. Because we have no intention to carry out here a complete reading from the total of 558 pages (indexes and end-notes including), but to recommend the reader to do so by him/herself, (we think some of) the arguments shown can here be briefly referred with the following citation from early part in text:

”[...] During this dizzying period of expansion, the Southern Cone began to look more like Europe and North America than the rest of Latin America or other parts of the Third World. The workers in the new factories formed powerful unions that negotiated middle-class salaries, and their children were sent off to study at newly built public universities. The yawning gap between the region's polo club elite and its peasant masses began to narrow. By the 1950s, Argentina had the largest middle-class on the continent, and next door Uruguay had a literacy rate of 95 percent and offered free health care for all citizens. Developmentalism was so staggeringly successful for a time that the Southern Cone of Latin America became a potent symbol for poor countries around the world: here was a proof that with smart, practical policies, aggressively implemented, the class divide between the First and third World could actually be closed.” (p. 55)

According to Klein the halting of that development was just the first part in the many similar cases of violent and economic 'shocks' to follow. Whether one is willing to agree with her views is a matter of whether one thinks the reasons presented and emphasized to be most significant, but like noticed, many of her conclusions are based on material that sounds uncomfortably familiar. The reader needs just to recollect the recent decades economic crises, human rights reports, international politics (and the list could continue far longer: catastrophe and disaster events aftermaths, social sector reductions, stock markets, vanishing middle-class, Voelcer Shocks and World Bank politics, etc.) To tie these recent histories to the present, she also has a lot to say from the well-known developments often linked with the Iraq war, like 'Big Government and Big Business' and 'bottomless spending on security'. So, for some conclusive remarks here, we can say this could very well be nominated as the black book of capitalism (the books cover is grey in color, though...).

In addition to that, we just wonder, perhaps it is a bit uncertain whether Shock Doctrine, will actually be received and read as widely as it should. This because, being written in the era of increasing knowledge from climatic disasters and environmental threats. Although both are in connection to and additionally to a remarkable amount direct followings from these past developments discussed, the book may actually be swiped away from most public eye too soon... But, I guess it won't probably turn out to be that way. Conclusively it's main strenghts are in the way it shows and resurfaces the renowned (and less renown) incidents from the past in behind current events.