The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

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The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

4.22 of 5 stars 4.22 · rating details · 12,574 ratings · 1,403 reviews

The bestselling author of No Logo shows how the global "free market" has exploited crises and shock for three decades, from Chile to Iraq

In her groundbreaking reporting over the past few years, Naomi Klein introduced the term "disaster capitalism." Whether covering Baghdad after the U.S. occupation, Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, or New Orleans post-Katrina, she wit...more

Hardcover, 558 pages

Published September 18th 2007 by Metropolitan Books

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Feb 15, 2009 Trevor rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: economics, social-theory

There is a part of me that would like to make this review a bit funny. This is a deeply disturbing book. I’ve a preference for humour as a means of confronting the deeply disturbing. But I can’t bring myself to say anything remotely funny about this book.

Klein compares some psychological experiments (torture by any reasonable definition of the word) carried out in the 1950s in Canada (funded by the CIA off US soil so they could plausibly deny they were researching torture) in which patients were...more

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Marco People, remember that when we are talking about "socialism", really we are talking about "stalinism" (and its offspring, maoism, which, after decades...more
Mar 03, 2012 10:37pm

Toni Salas Fantastic review and i absolutely agree with your point of view. It's time to unveil the whole system that is opressing so many people just for the sa...more
Dec 21, 2012 12:15pm

Nov 07, 2007 Evan rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: any intelligent person who has read Thomas Friedman

This is an ambitious book. It tries to tie the economic politics of Chile, Argentina, Bolivia (in the 1970s), Russia, Poland, China, South Africa (in the 1980s and early nineties), the war in Iraq, the tsunami, and hurricane Katrina into a unified theory. Obviously, certain investigative and interpretive biases are required to make this work. Third world nationalism and developmentalism, in general, get off pretty easy in Klein's analysis. As a specialist in Indonesia, I found her portrayal of t...more This is an ambitious book. It tries to tie the economic politics of Chile, Argentina, Bolivia (in the 1970s), Russia, Poland, China, South Africa (in the 1980s and early nineties), the war in Iraq, the tsunami, and hurricane Katrina into a unified theory. Obviously, certain investigative and interpretive biases are required to make this work. Third world nationalism and developmentalism, in general, get off pretty easy in Klein's analysis. As a specialist in Indonesia, I found her portrayal of the Suharto regime as a betrayal of the somehow more viable Sukarno regime a bit evasive (let us not foget that Sukarno was also an ideologue who ran the nation's economy into the ground in the name of fighting neo-colonialism). Making me wonder just how she'd cooked the books in analyzing numerous other countries whose histories I don't know so well.

That said, it offers a very provocative perspective tying together some of the most significant events of the past quarter century.

The thesis, simply put, is that the economic theory championed by Milton Friedman and his Chicago School, first play-tested in the third world in the 1970s, has increasingly come home to roost in the West and Bush's America. The gist of the theory, according to Klein, is a total rejection of Keynesian economics (i.e. the New Deal approach to combatting recession through government spending). In contrast, the three guiding principles of the Chicago School are: deregulation, privatization and cutbacks. (Sound familiar yet?) Transferriing as much of the public sector as possible to the private sector, eliminating government regulations of business, cutting back on services, protections and other economic benefits to the workforce.

The problem, as Friedman and his disciples realized early on, is that voting citizens don't actually want any of this, and will not vote for neoliberal policies through any normal, free democratic process. The solution? Make democracy abnormal. Through shock and awe. Wait for (or instigate) a state of crisis and emergency (i.e. war, natural disaster, mass torture, revolution) and then implement neoliberal policies outside (or, in many cases, in direct contradiction to) democratic will. However, as we have discovered most recently in Iraq, such tactics don't tend to "settle down" into widespread prosperity for ordinary people. Rather, neoliberal governments find that if they let democracy operate normally again, they lose power. Which is why the United States ended up supporting so many dictators. In the name of spreading free market democracy.

There are some sharp notions in this book. I'm particularly taken with Klein's generalization of "Red Zone/Green Zone" to talk about zones of normalcy and nightmare created by neoliberal policies from Iraq to post-tsunami Sri Lanka to New Orleans. She also offers a persuasive refutation of the claim that we (the US) did the Marshall Plan in Europe, but when we tried it in Iraq, Arab Muslims just couldn't handle it. Rather, while the Marshall Plan was rooted in Keynesian economics (we rebuilt Europe's governments and public infrastructure), reconstruction in Iraq has been an "anti-Marshall plan," dismantling the Iraqi state and contracting all its functions to US corporations.

The REAL problem of this book is how to present arguments like these to anyone who doesn't already concsider themselves anti-globalization liberals. I think that any intelligent person who has read Thomas Friedman and found his arguments somewhat persuasive, should read this book too, and decide what sounds most persuasive for themselves. Unfortunately, I think most people will look at the jacket cover endorsements from Howard Zinn, Studs Terkel et. al. and make a snap call for the usual ideological reasons.

THAT is not good for America.(less)

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Mar 01, 2008 James rated it 5 of 5 stars

“The lucky get Kevlar, the rest get prayer beads.”

This is a chilling, writhing outrage of a book. A hideous, squealing beast of a book that cannot and should not be ignored.

Klein has dropped the curtain on an ugly, malevolent Wizard. When these kind of curtains drop, we never like what we see. Like so many of these kinds of leftist exposes on conservatives, the Bush Administration, the neocons and their rabble, this book needn’t have been written. Orwell wrote it already. But better than any oth...more

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Feb 11, 2013 ~ mariya ~ rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everybody

Shelves: politics

There are many detailed and eloquent reviews of this book already; however, I still feel like I have to write a review about this important book.

I've wondered for years why the world is the way it is. Why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Why countries in Latin America and Africa are so poor and undeveloped. "Geez, South Africa, why can't you just get your s**t together and be like America? In fact, why can't all these countries be like us, what's wrong with them?" Well, ladies and g...more There are many detailed and eloquent reviews of this book already; however, I still feel like I have to write a review about this important book.

I've wondered for years why the world is the way it is. Why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Why countries in Latin America and Africa are so poor and undeveloped. "Geez, South Africa, why can't you just get your s**t together and be like America? In fact, why can't all these countries be like us, what's wrong with them?" Well, ladies and gentlemen, the questions have been finally answered. This book literally turned my world upside down and changed my views on politics and economics. Mind = blown. No kidding.

So here is one of the reasons why the world is a messed up place: the shock doctrine, a dangerous ideology that has been implemented by the "great" economist Milton Friedman and his misguided acolytes since the 1970's. The plan is to shock people (whether it's through a natural disaster or a man-made one) and disorient them, and then swoop in implementing economic policies that benefit very few, and cripple many. The economic policies are:

1.) deregulation of markets - free trade baby!
2.) privatization of everything - congratulations, your job has been outsourced!
3.) tax cuts and elimination of social services - sorry old and poor people, you are on your own!

The most evil thing about this is that while America preaches freedom and democracy, the only way such policies can be implemented is through a repressive, dictatorial government. And if you resist, you'll most likely be shot, or tortured and then shot. Just ask the people in Chile and Argentina. They were the first countries to go through this experiment. While the people of these countries suffered from repression, poverty, torture, and death, the political leaders declared such economic policies as successful. After all, it made them SO MUCH money.

This policy has spread to other places: South Africa, Asia, Poland, Russia, etc. It made my blood boil to read about the way the Russian people were duped into such harsh economic policies. People's pensions were taken away, social services cut; all of a sudden millions of people couldn't afford even a loaf of bread. People were CHEATED out of everything they ever believed in. Instead of freedom and democracy, they got starvation, abject poverty, and a huge rise in crime.

If you think that this can only happen in other countries, just look at what's happened right here in America the past few years. Read about how much the people of New Orleans were swindled after Hurricane Katrina happened. Look at the state of the economy. Yep, Bush's tax cuts and deregulation of Wall Street really helped us. Ha!

I don't want to rant and rave anymore in this review. That is not my wish. I wish instead for everybody to read this book because it will open up your eyes, my friend, it will show you how we all have been lied to and deceived. It is only when we become aware of this problem, that we can work to change it. (less)

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Mar 20, 2008 Rhyd Wildermuth rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: capitalism-and-its-discontents

I just finished The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, by Naomi Klein. It came out months ago, and I would’ve read it sooner had it not cost $45 dollars in Canada.

Much of the information meticulously detailed in the book was already available in Harper’s Magazine and DemocracyNow!, though never put together so throroughly. She begins her book with a discussion of a canadian woman who endured several years of experimental psychiatric work under the authority of David Cameron, worki...more

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Mar 01, 2009 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars

Dear Naomi Klein,
I recently finished reading your latest book, The Shock Doctrine. Your detailed account of the connections between neoliberal economic policy and the use of violent repression, the decline of welfare states, and the rise of corporatized war and disaster capitalism is compelling. You thread together the recent histories of military brutality in the Southern Cone of South America, union busting in Margaret Thatcher’s England, and the Tiananmen Square massacre in China. Through th...more Dear Naomi Klein,
I recently finished reading your latest book, The Shock Doctrine. Your detailed account of the connections between neoliberal economic policy and the use of violent repression, the decline of welfare states, and the rise of corporatized war and disaster capitalism is compelling. You thread together the recent histories of military brutality in the Southern Cone of South America, union busting in Margaret Thatcher’s England, and the Tiananmen Square massacre in China. Through these histories you make explicit that acts of violent political repression against leftist organizers were not chance occurrences during periods of economic transition. On the contrary, you show that they were deliberate acts of “shock therapy” used by governments to numb and eliminate those opposed to the implementation of neoliberal policies such as the privatization of public services, the elimination of spending on social programs, and the deregulation of industry wage, safety and environmental standards.

You demonstrate the “constricted freedom” of post cold-war governments in Poland, Russia, and South Africa, who, in spite of initial aspirations to build social democratic welfare states, ended up implementing neoliberal economic reforms with disastrous consequences for the majority of their people. You then bring your analysis of neoliberalism to the United States, describing the rise of the privatized war machine and the parallel emergence of the occupation of Iraq as a profitable market for investments in military technology, homeland security, and the rebuilding of basic infrastructure destroyed by the aforementioned military technology. Finally, you tie it all together by concluding that the neoliberal economic model, in its thirst for new markets, is now preying upon areas struck by natural disasters to accumulate the profits it desires. “Disaster capitalism,” as you aptly name it, was evident in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and in Sri Lanka after the tsunami when large numbers of poor people were prevented from returning to their weather damaged homes in order to create lucrative new investment opportunities on the land they previously inhabited. The most sinister part of neoliberalism’s trajectory, as you note at the end of your book, is that when war and disaster are profitable enterprises, there are increased incentives to start wars and allow natural phenomena to deteriorate into social catastrophes.

To begin, I want to say that I learned a lot from reading your book. I was continually impressed by your ability to organize complex historical events into easily understandable patterns. You have clearly demonstrated neoliberalism’s historical dependence on political, economic, and physical “shock.” I am writing you, however, because despite my deep appreciation for the work you have done, I also have a major concern. You do an excellent job of describing many of the problems that come with neoliberalism, but I am afraid your analysis does not give a good account as to why neoliberal ideas are being implemented in the first place. Without a clear understanding of why neoliberalism is the policy of choice for many governments and economists today, you fail to put forward a comprehensive vision for how neoliberalism can be transformed.

For these reasons, I am concerned that many people will read your book and become motivated to make change, but will not be equipped with the right tools to do so. I am concerned that without the right tools, these motivated people will continue to focus on pressuring governments and/or economists to make change but will have little success persuading them to do so. I am concerned that these motivated people, after not having much success, will start to believe those who say that the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union prove that free market capitalism is the final stop on the train of economic history. Moreover, I am concerned that these motivated people, frustrated by their inability to make change, will reluctantly give into the idea that capitalism (and the neoliberal ideology that now accompanies it) is the only way to organize economies after all.

With these concerns in mind, I would like to suggest that you take a look at another book that maps the rise of neoliberalism in the latter half of the twentieth century. The book is The Dilemmas of Social Democracies by two Peace Studies Professors at Earlham College, Howard Richards and Joanna Swanger. Instead of focusing on the violence and repression associated with neoliberal economics, Richards and Swanger focus on rules. They would argue that your book takes a wrong turn on the second to last page of the introduction when you make the claim that there is no reason that market-based economies are incompatible with decent wages, free health care, and quality public education. They would say that there is a very good reason that markets and government led social welfare programs do not mix: the basic cultural rules that shape our current economy do not allow them to. They would explain that until the basic rules of our economy are changed, governments have few options for making economic policies that serve the needs of all of their people...

Read the entire "open letter to Naomi Klein" at: http://www.infactispax.org/volume3/We...
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Feb 28, 2009 Logan rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone curious as to why they are now unemployed

Shelves: current-affairs, politics, damn-the-man, history

As someone who used to consume nonfiction with the voracious appetite of a trucker at an Old Country Buffet, I find it odd and not a little unsettling that, since joining Goodreads, a solid 95% of my reading material has come from the fiction side of the bookstore. While this has definitely helped fill some dramatic gaps in my knowledge, it was with much relief that I tucked myself into Klein's The Shock Doctrine earlier this week. I'd attempted reading this in the heady afterglow of the electio...more As someone who used to consume nonfiction with the voracious appetite of a trucker at an Old Country Buffet, I find it odd and not a little unsettling that, since joining Goodreads, a solid 95% of my reading material has come from the fiction side of the bookstore. While this has definitely helped fill some dramatic gaps in my knowledge, it was with much relief that I tucked myself into Klein's The Shock Doctrine earlier this week. I'd attempted reading this in the heady afterglow of the election this past November but I was not in the mood to be depressed so soon and replaced it on my shelf.

Two months into Obama's presidency, as the economy crumbles into so many pieces which are then greedily consumed by the jackals that make up the banking industry, Klein's definitive history of Friedman economics and their entwined history with brutality, terror and disparity seems especially apt. Granted, Friedman didn't do this all on his own. Rather, as Klein's thesis bears out, this occurs through a system of shocks to the nervous system of the target country, much as electro-convulsive therapy was developed as a means to wipe its subjects mind so that it could be reformatted into a socially acceptable form.

The first shock is generally political upheaval- a coup, terror attack, or governmental collapse, though Klein points out that natural disasters such as the 2004 tsunami and Hurricane Katrina work just as well, that so upsets the regular routine of life that citizens are willing to invest extraordinary powers in the government and silence any dissent for the duration of the emergency. Sound familiar?

Next comes the economic shock, during which the social safety nets so despised by free-market zealots are taken away and former nationally-owned industries (oil, mineral, postal services, arms contracts, education, healthcare, pretty much everything) are "privatized," or sold at cut-rate prices to foreign investors who, through some never-explained sleight of hand will then lead the country into its bright capitalist utopia. Of course, as profit-driven enterprises are wont to do, this generally leads to corruption at unprecedented levels, currency inflation and record-bursting unemployment levels. "Relax," the economic advisers say (these well-trained theorists from Friedman's Chicago School of Economics), "these are just the birth pangs of a new economic era. Everything is under control."

Which is very true. Everything is very much under control. For, as social unrest grows, the next shock is coming. These are the state-sanctioned terror squads that quell social unrest by creating an atmosphere of unwavering brutality and terror. These are the Disappeared leftists of South America, herded into football stadiums and machine-gunned, the distraught funeral gatherings broken up with water cannons and riot police. These are electrodes under the nails, omni-present surveillance, bodies dropped from helicopters into farmer's fields, couples black-bagged during their own wedding ceremony and carted into torture facilities, in front of hundreds of witnesses who are all so very afraid to be next that they refuse to even acknowledge that the event occurred.

Klein charts the evolution of the titular Shock Doctrine from it's intellectual beginnings at the University of Chicago in the 1950s in horrified reaction to the New Deal and the Keynesian philosophy that holds that a country's economy should work to best serve the working classes that are it's lifeblood. Milton Friedman, godfather of this Doctrine, develops his economic theory of free-market systems using oh-so-precise calculations (this is the man who cried and recited Donne's "Ode to a Grecian Urn" upon seeing a geometric proof) yet lacks a real world opportunity to test them in.

Enter Chile in 1974, an alleged 3rd world country who has just elected the radical Salvador Allende who is promising further nationalization of vital industries and expanded benefits to its citizens. Obviously the man is a dangerous Marxist and must be deposed post haste, says the US-based United Fruit Company who has much to lose if these nationalizations occur. No sooner said than done. With the useful assistance of the CIA, the military executes Allende and installs General Pinochet as dictator who, with assistance from his Chicago Boys (worshipers at the fount of Friedman) dismantles the complete economy and disappears hundreds of thousands of upstart leftists.

Okay, so that was a bit too bloody for the world's tastes, but you can't argue with the profits. A few people got extremely rich, clearly the market works. Let's try that again, but this time a bit more slyly. So Klein ushers us through nearly every political upheaval of the past 30 years, from the Thatcherite Falklands War to the end of Apartheid in South Africa and communism in both Poland and Russia, illustrating in very explicit detail the cooption of movements in the name of free-markets, the economic blackmail of the IMF's structural adjustment programs, and the destruction of true freedom in order to create free markets.

What is shown is not a series of isolated events but the creation of post-nationalist systems in which the state serves as the source of endless wealth for a very few and muscle for the extortion that takes place in the name of freedom. Most effective is how, after hundreds of pages of showing how this program (or pogrom) worked overseas, Klein brings it home to the US and shows how the terror attacks of 2001, the Iraq War, and the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina allowed the Friedmaniacs to enact their policies in the states. Complete lack of oversight, no bid contracts, unregulated markets and massive speculation all ran rampant during the seven years of Bush's reign and Klein does well to show exactly how this system led to the economic armageddon that engulfs us today.

It is my only hope that Obama and his advisers have read and believed even one chapter of this book and seen Friedman's system for the massive fuck up that it is and are now looking to pull Keynes from the wilderness and enshrine his values firmly in the passages of law, finicky governors be damned.(less)

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Mar 28, 2010 Whitaker rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-book, economics, 2010-read

Three recent articles in The Guardian are particularly interesting in the light of Naomi Klein’s conclusions in this book. On the one hand, "'Day of Wrath' brings Russians on to the streets against Vladimir Putin" bears out her thesis of citizen blowback against unrestrained capitalism. So apparently does "How China's internet generation broke the silence". That article, however, goes on to note:

Many in the west see it as self-evident that an increased flow of information will make officials mo

...more

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Jan 10, 2008 Naeem rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who like Chomsky, Parenti, and Polanyi

Recommended to Naeem by: paul puhr

The mid-book review (see below) holds up. I have finished the book and it is not a good book. It is a great book. Klein has really achieved something here. Politics, economics, international relations, culture, ideology, and the human capacity to resist domination -- all come together here.

Klein's global range and tremendous detail are really heartening to me.

Below is the mid-book review written a few days ago:

I am up to chapter 11 (out of 22). So this is a mid-book review.

There is much more...more

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Apr 22, 2010 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: EVERYONE. (I'm not just saying that this time.)

Shelves: non-fiction, audiobook, political, 2010, highly-recommended, reviewed, challenge-1010

I'm going to begin this review with the most important part: Read this book.

I've wanted to read this book for quite a while, being that I like to think I'm not a complete political dumbass. I know that George "Dubya" Bush's administration was corrupt and a disease-ridden greed breeding-ground. I knew that Dick Cheney isn't to be trusted as far as a paraplegic could throw him, that Dubya himself is far from being the no-brain borderline illiterate that he liked to play on TV, and is beyond devio...more I'm going to begin this review with the most important part: Read this book.

I've wanted to read this book for quite a while, being that I like to think I'm not a complete political dumbass. I know that George "Dubya" Bush's administration was corrupt and a disease-ridden greed breeding-ground. I knew that Dick Cheney isn't to be trusted as far as a paraplegic could throw him, that Dubya himself is far from being the no-brain borderline illiterate that he liked to play on TV, and is beyond devious. And I may just piss off a lot of people here, but Obama's no better. What happened to withdrawing our troops? What happened to not allowing lobbyists into his administration? What happened to "greater transparency in Washington"? I could go on and on...

I consider myself to be somewhat informed, but this book made me feel like I was born yesterday. I've lived through many of the conflicts detailed in this book, and while it's true that I was a child for most of them, I've also lived through the last 8 years when I was not a child, and I feel woefully ignorant of the world after having read this book.

It was definitely an eye-opener. I've never been much for economics, I grasp the basic concepts (supply and demand, etc), but it was never one of my strong points in school. And in school, mine at least, we were given a basic overview, a test, and a grade, then sent on our way. There was no in depth analysis, no history to examine the different types in a real life scenario, no discussion of how economics can influence policy or politics. So, essentially, we're left completely unprepared for econo-political manipulation.

Klein begins the book by talking about Dr. Ewen Cameron, and his techniques in the 50's for trying to create a blank slate of the mind in order to rebuild a new and better personality in place of a "broken" one. To such breakages including anxiety or depression or OCD, he would apply massive doses of experimental drugs - LSD, PCP, etc - along with multiple shock therapies at many times the average or recommended limit, as well as isolation, disorientation, and depersonalization techniques. He was determined to "peel away the onion layers of the mind" and arrive at a blank slate which he could then rewrite with the desired attributes... "You are a good wife and mother," or "You are not afraid of public places," etc. Many, many people left his "care" more damaged and broken than when they came in, which memory loss, muscle damage or bone fractures or broken teeth from the high voltages used on them, to name just a few physical effects, and many of them had these techniques performed on them without their knowledge or consent. Terrifying. This is the good doctor that assisted so willingly in the CIA's research in their mind-control and brainwashing program, MKULTRA.

Klein mentions this with good reason, which is that a traumatic event, or a shock, is the best time to shove through massive and sweeping economic policy changes. While the general public is busy trying to put their lives back together, they aren't looking at what is being done behind the curtain, and therefore cannot interfere. The type of changes outlined here are ones that are easily recognizable if you know to look. Klein called it "Extreme Capitalism", it's essentially a free market economy in which all goods and services are privatized and unregulated. The stated theory is that with all government "interference" (read: regulation) removed, the free market plan will just magically stabilize itself and be a perfect economy. Except, this is patently impossible - even a blind person can see that. Greed prevents it. People who own the industry that's been privatized will want ever more profits, which means higher costs, which leads to inflation, while people who have lost their goverment or union provided jobs to privatized industry have no means to pay for the goods or services, which leads to more and more desperate poor while the rich profit off of their need to eat.

Naturally, to prevent revolt and uprisings, harsher and harsher methods are needed to keep the people under control, which is where terror comes in. People are tortured, taken from their homes, kidnapped, imprisoned, and outright murdered to 1) remove the threat from people who stand against the economic misery that they've been subjected to, and 2) serve as a message to anyone else thinking of making a stand. Klein outlines country after country which has given Extreme Capitalism a go, and in every case, it ruins the economy of the country, and the lives of those who live there, while fattening the bank accounts of a select few elite who profit off of the masses. This perfect plan creates outrageous national deficits, unheard of levels of unemployed, and astronomical profits for the companies which have been privatized.

I'll never look at my government, or any government, the same way again. Greedy exploitation at any cost. What better than an unwinnable and perpetual war then to continue the exploitation and corruption? Ugh. It's sickening. National identity, heritage and history are destroyed to make way for Wal-marts and McDonalds and 7-11 stores. Iraq's national museum, which housed priceless and irreplaceable artifacts from the beginning of human history, was looted and many artifacts are destroyed or missing, all in an attempt to wipe away the cultural memory so that there will be a clean slate for the new corporate economy and nation.

This review sucks. Just read the book. Really. I can't do it justice. It's important, and if you don't feel sick afterward, I might suspect that you're a multi-gajillionaire corporate mogul just stepping off of some newly-impoverished country's back on your way to the next. =\

4.22.10/ Edit to add: In honor of Earth Day, I was sent this slide show, and I think it's relevant, so I'm linking to it here. www.Miniature-Earth.com Watch the slide-show. I hope it affects you.(less)

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Jun 19, 2012 Will Byrnes rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, all-time-favorites-non-fiction, favorites, economics, brain-candy

Updated - June 18, 2012 - see link at bottom

This was a very illuminating work about how chaotic situations are used, and sometimes created, as cover for the imposition of drastic economic and political reorganization in vulnerable economies. The end product of these actions is a so-called free market model as advocated by the Chicago School of Milton Friedman and his acolytes. Examples used include Chile, China, Argentina, Bolivia, South Africa, Russia, among others. The technique is for western...more Updated - June 18, 2012 - see link at bottom

This was a very illuminating work about how chaotic situations are used, and sometimes created, as cover for the imposition of drastic economic and political reorganization in vulnerable economies. The end product of these actions is a so-called free market model as advocated by the Chicago School of Milton Friedman and his acolytes. Examples used include Chile, China, Argentina, Bolivia, South Africa, Russia, among others. The technique is for western financial powers to swoop in during a time of financial crisis and refuse to lend a struggling nation any money until that nation agrees to a radical reworking of its economy. This reworking is done in a shock, with many changes instituted all at once, with little or no warning. These changes, as they are draconian toward the lower classes, usually need to be accompanied by severe political repression in order to enforce the transition. What we see here is the mechanism of a growing form of corporatist colonialism.

Klein parallels her examination of the stresses endured by many national economies with a look at actual, literal, personal shock treatment. In the 1950s a researcher named Ewan Cameron did research on his theory that instead of Freudian therapy a more effective method of treating mental illness was to erase the patient’s personality using electric shocks. Then the blank page would be receptive to reconstruction by the good doctor. The shocks caused amnesia and extreme regression. Cameron devised a new tool, one that applied six shocks at once, and even used a wide range of drugs to disorient and wipe clean as much of the patient’s personality as possible. Once the subject was reduced to a vegetative state, Cameron played them tapes dozens, maybe hundreds of times over. The CIA took note and launched a program of its own.

She posits a parallel between treatments that serve to erase personality with the economic and political shocks that struggling nations are forced to endure, shocks that are part and parcel of the move from a developmentalist economy, one that seeks local control and self-sufficiency, to a globalist economy, one in which foreign investment in and ownership of local enterprise is encouraged.

While I found that at times Klein extended her discourse beyond the reach of her material, I found her analysis of the subject matter compelling, her linkage of different forms of shock (personal, political, economic) illuminating, and the applicability of her work to the current economic disruptions frightening. Despite its subject matter I found this a compelling, and relatively fast read. It should be mandatory reading for anyone concerned with politics, economics, world affairs or current events.

UPDATES
August 4, 2011 - the following article has particular relevance not only for the international implementation of TSD, but to its application within the USA. It is an interview with Dr. Michael Hudson, a guy who has been ahead of the curve for a long time on the roots of current economic atrocities.

June 18, 2012 - Joe Nocera's NY Times column on how ALEC-based programs are gutting democracy in Rhode Island
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Jun 15, 2008 David M. rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: political-theory

I only got about ¼ into this. I don't like the shifty way Klein argues her points. I felt like I was being propagandized rather than educated.

Much of her main “shock doctrine” argument seems to be just sort of a tightly-woven set of linguistic parallels that are meant to suggest causation. Something like: Hitler had the autobahn built. The autobahn allowed drivers to finally race where they wanted to go. Hitler crafted what he thought of as the final solution to a race problem. So you see, highw...more

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Dec 01, 2007 Grant rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: every human on the planet

Shelves: issues, thinking, activism

I would seriously like to see every human on this planet read this book. I can’t think of any other book I would more highly recommend today.

The whole text was rich in the exposing of history and deep analysis. I strongly encourage anyone reading it to stick through to the end. The bulk of the book covers quite terrible things in the world, but the last chapter actually made me very hopeful and inspired.

Utterly brilliant!

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Oct 08, 2007 Bill Kerwin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Using shock treatment as a metaphor, Klein analyzes the importance of economic dislocations and disasters to the success of Milton Friedman's free market philosophy. This is an important book, and shows why the apparent stupidities of the Bush administration in Iraq and Katrina are actually deliberate measures designed to daze and demoralize people into accepting a radical free-market agenda.

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Phillip Oh my. I knew Milton Friedman and you're no.....actually I did meet him a time or two. Nice guy. I am not a fan of Bush (too wishy washy) and certainl...more
Oct 08, 2007 05:03pm

Bill Kerwin
The fact that you say you have met Milton Friedman does not impress me.

You have misunderstood my review. I said nothing about hurricanes being caused...more
Oct 08, 2007 06:26pm

Jun 29, 2008 Maura rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-time-favorites, economics, history, made-a-huge-impression-on-me, human-rights, non-fiction

Wow. This and Eduardo Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America, which Klein cited frequently, are the two best books I've read in years.

What's amazing is that none of the historical or current events she covered were really new to me--I read the papers, I'm up on my Latin American history, and I'd had a basic understanding of Chicago School ideology... but she pointed out connections between them all that I hadn't seen before. I felt her analogizes between economic shock therapy and torture practic...more

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Oct 12, 2007 Lynn rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: college students

The central thesis of this book is that Freidman neo-liberal economics (privatization, deregulation,cutbacks in social spending) has been implemented around the world by creating or taking advantage of national shocks. Created as in coups in Chile, Argentina, Indonesia, taking advantage as in the natural disasters in Sri Lanka and New Orleans and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in the U.S. Neo-liberals have been able to impose this shock therapy undemocratically by taking advantage of populations...more

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Dec 03, 2007 Sara Willis rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone ignorant of the dangers of capitalism

You can't have capitalism without capitalists. The intentional pervasive spread of capitalism is proven as no evolutionary process that begets an economic system out of the blue only because it is a natural progression. What Naomi Klien illustrates is how intentional and manipulated ,and how dependent upon suppression and violence, this "progression" turned out to be. Through spreading their influence to countries such as Chile, Russia and now Iraq the Chicago School economists purport to be doi...more

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Nov 28, 2011 Bettie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: published-2007, nonfiction, medical-eew, filthy-lucre, fraudio, autumn-2011

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 28, 2009 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone - it's a must read!

Shelves: non-fiction, political-science, 2009, favourite

There is a kind of history that gets overlooked, that doesn't get taught in schools or universities aside from a fourth-year optional course that no one bothers to take. It's a history that is fundamental to understanding our world, both past and present and where the hell we're going. It's a history that touches everyone, regardless of class, gender, race or age, but that slips out the back door before anyone thinks to call it to account, put it on trial and expose its heinous crimes. I'm talki...more

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Aug 09, 2010 Manny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history-and-biography

A very disturbing book indeed. I can't decide whether I feel that her paranoia got out of control, or whether it is indeed a fair representation of US foreign policy over the last 30-40 years. A lot of it rings true. Though I hope that the links between torture and economic theory are not as clear as she paints them... that was the part I had the hardest time swallowing. Maybe we will learn more now that the Neo-Cons are going to lose control of the US.

___________________________________

I can't...more A very disturbing book indeed. I can't decide whether I feel that her paranoia got out of control, or whether it is indeed a fair representation of US foreign policy over the last 30-40 years. A lot of it rings true. Though I hope that the links between torture and economic theory are not as clear as she paints them... that was the part I had the hardest time swallowing. Maybe we will learn more now that the Neo-Cons are going to lose control of the US.

___________________________________

I can't help thinking of The Shock Doctrine when I see the daily headlines here in Britain about the drastic changes our new government intends to make. Klein argues that the standard tactic the right has used is to wait for a crisis of some kind, and then use it as an excuse to rush through policies which they've prepared for this eventuality. In some cases, they engineer the crisis intentionally.

Okay... I can see that some of the government's policies can be defended as as a rational response to Britain's enormous debt. And then you have things like reducing the number of MPs from 650 to 600. This is very advantageous to the Conservatives. But the official justification is that it will save £12M.

Now, people are often bad at comparing big numbers. We owe something around £900B, largely as a result of having to bail out the banks during the credit crunch two years ago. Let's divide by ten million and try to relate it to something we can actually understand. So, I'll suppose that my cousin somehow persuaded me to invest in his business venture, which sounded sensible but actually turned out to be a pyramid scheme that collapsed catastrophically. To our horror, this has left us saddled with a personal debt of £90,000, which we're slowly trying to pay off.

Not surprisingly, my partner is all over my case, and is taking the opportunity to get her way on a number of issues while she has the moral upper hand. But when she uses this argument to motivate not buying a copy of a Sunday newspaper that I like and she doesn't, and which costs £1.20, I feel she's gone too far. A saving this small makes no real difference. It's just exploiting the situation.

Well, as I see it, that's roughly what our government is doing now.
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Jul 11, 2008 Christopher rated it 4 of 5 stars

Conservatives will call this book conspiracy theory, and the inside jacket flap made me hesitate for about six months before I read it. But this is not the stuff of "George W. Bush planned, plotted, and carried out 9/11" conspiracy theory (as if Bush wouldn't have messed that up too). The shock doctrine essentially asserts that governments use the public shock following catastrophes (whether natural, as with Hurricane Katrina, or intentional, as with several of the 1970s coups in South America)...more

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Jul 31, 2008 angela rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: politics, economics

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in a popularized account of disaster capitalism and "shock" economics.

Although, I'll be honest, it didn't quite grab me up front - I found that Klein began the book with a number of oversimplifications in describing both the issues with disaster capitalism and economics and political economy more generally. However, by the time I made it through the first third I became far more impressed with her analysis. Some of her arguments, though, contin...more I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in a popularized account of disaster capitalism and "shock" economics.

Although, I'll be honest, it didn't quite grab me up front - I found that Klein began the book with a number of oversimplifications in describing both the issues with disaster capitalism and economics and political economy more generally. However, by the time I made it through the first third I became far more impressed with her analysis. Some of her arguments, though, continued to sensationalize and simplify issues (I suppose, partially due to her writing style). Also, while I know this is going to be a terribly unpopular opinion, I found the repeated and numerous parallels she drew with torture and shock pyscho"therapy" to be excessive by the end of the book without adding much to her argument. The information she presented on the case of Latin America and Dr. Cameron was necessary and illustrative. And some of the information on torture in Iraq was also quite necessary but the amount of information she provided seemed to become more sensationalized with fewer direct ties being made to diaster capitalism. I didn't have a problem with the inclusion of all those examples of torture, in and of itself, I just think the book would have been stronger by continually tying all of these incidents together or more strategically picking examples of shock therapy that could more readily illustrate her points about disaster capitalism.

If you only read select pieces of this book, I highly recommend you read the sections on South America and Russia. They are illustrative and I think the Russian case is especially revealing when compared to the South American case.

* I must admit that I listened to the audio version of this book (when I went to two book stores in Toronto to find it and neither had it, I thought I'd give this format a try). However, the format may have shaped my view of the book as I found it harder to digest and had to listen to some sections twice, for instance). (less)

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Jan 01, 2008 Cat rated it 2 of 5 stars

In the aftermath of the San Diego fires this volume caught my eye. Mostly, it was the subheading "The rise of disaster capitalism." Published in 2007, the summary promised a thorough indictment of the Milton Friedman inspired economics of "disaster capitalism" i.e. the method by which governments and corporations use natural & man made disasters to push through radical neo-liberal reforms during a period when the population, which normally would vociferously object to ideas like privatising...more In the aftermath of the San Diego fires this volume caught my eye. Mostly, it was the subheading "The rise of disaster capitalism." Published in 2007, the summary promised a thorough indictment of the Milton Friedman inspired economics of "disaster capitalism" i.e. the method by which governments and corporations use natural & man made disasters to push through radical neo-liberal reforms during a period when the population, which normally would vociferously object to ideas like privatising the water supply, are in a such a state of shock they are helpless to object.

This book begins and ends with Milton Friedman, and if you are reading this review without a clear idea of who he is & what he stands for in the history of the 20th and 21st century, either google the man or stop reading now, because to describe The Shock Doctrine as anything other then one journalist's attempt to hold Friedman responsible for nearly all the ills of the post-cold war world (and many of the ills which occurred during the cold war) is to do this book a great disservice.

Friedman is best known as an apostle of free markets, privatisation and globalization. As a professor at the University of Chicago, he articulated an anti-kenseyian economic program that was near and dear to the hearts of our favorite republican presidents- Ronald Reagan, George Bush (the younger) and their advisers- Donald Rumsfeld was a student. Friedman also trained the economists who "revised" the post coup economies of Chile under the Junta, of Argentina under Pinochet.

A large part of what Klein seeks to do is hold Friedman and his disciples responsible for the torture & repression unleashed by the politicians and dictators seeking to implement his vision. At the heart of her argument is the simple idea that the neo-liberal program is a corporatist give away that loots the state in favor of hand outs to large corporations, that this project is profoundly unpopular to politicians in democracies because there are more poor voters then rich voters & ipso facto the neo-liberal economists are forced to created conditions of "shock" where vulnerable populations are unable to resist. These shocks can either take the form of coups (think Pinochet), political turmoil (eastern europe post cold war), currency crises (Mexico in the 90s) or, in fact, a military invasion by the United States (Irag, the second time.)

All of these shocks result in the implementation of the same program: sale of state assets, opening of markets to foreign investments, elimination of price controls for stable supplies.

There is no pretense of objectivity in Klein's writing, she is quite clearly a left leaning journalist of the 60s variety. Save the last chapter, which speaks of the revival of resistance to the neo-liberal program in places like Venezuela (yeah Hugo Chavez!), to read this book is to read an unending litany of disaster, repression, and, let's face it, malevolent evil doing by Friedman, the World Bank, the IMF & the current President (and his cronies). In short, it's pretty much a book length write up of the discussion that dope smoking undergraduates have been having in the dorm rooms since the 60s. To her credit, Klein appears to have actually gone to many of the places she is writing about. She footnotes extensively.

However, almost nothing in this book was new to me, and on behalf of Milton Friedman, the Bush administration and the giant corporations of American and the West, I would enter a demurrer to Ms. Klein's accusations. A "demurrer" is when you file a response to a law suit that basically says, "Yeah, so what?"

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Dec 16, 2007 Hank Horse rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who think capital=god=evolution

Shelves: leftylucy

Klein provides trenchant analysis of the human costs of fundamentalist free-market privatization policies. She gives case after outrageous case.

This book is a valuable tool for understanding the politics and history of the last 50 years.

One aspect of the book I think especially timely is her analysis of torture as a state policy designed to intimidate populations resistant to neoliberal economic schemes. It makes anyone who uses that old "But what if you had a terrorist who knew where a bomb wa...more

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Nov 21, 2007 Gemma Williams rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Excellent and compellingly written book about how Milton Friedman's Chicago school of free market capitalism has been imposed on countries following shocks, whether caused by natural or contrived disasters, and how the initial shock and followup shocks in the form of repression and frequently torture have been used to impose these deeply unpopular measures. Takes in Chile, Columbia, Russia, Poland, Britain under Thatcher and the war on terror. Points out how disaster capitalism profits from crea...more

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Nov 25, 2007 Kerry rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: non-fiction-favourites

A very disturbing read even with the positive ending. As someone who has taught History and Politics since the 1970s this book made sense of a lot of the seeming absurdities of US foreign policy through that period. Sad that Friedman died before he could be indicted for war crimes but it was never going to happen anyway. The US only allows very low level people to be brought to justice for this sort of thing. The section on tsunami aid was simply sickening and really shows how morally bankrupt t...more

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Dec 31, 2007 Holly rated it 5 of 5 stars

I started this book half-expecting socialist propaganda. While reading it, I felt compelled to actually look up and research its incredible claims. By the time I finished this book, I found myself changed not only by the history lesson, but by the in-your-face current events reporting and grim foreshadowing of the potential future of every nation--as well as the role of the United States in all of these.

For the first time I have a clearer understanding of the phrase, "If you're not outraged, you...more

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Jan 04, 2009 Peggy rated it 5 of 5 stars

An eye opener about Disaster Capitalism as the driving economic export of American economic doctrine first implemented by Ronald Reagan in Latin America. Milton Freedman is it's founder and started the Chicago School of Economics. We have exported this form of economic torture and destruction of the underclasses for the great enrichment of the upper-classes world wide. The book is well documented and a gripping, terrifying thrill ride into our darkest impulses. It is at the heart of the NeoCon m...more

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Beach Bum Peggy wrote: "My mother was a child of the Joad generation. You are reading one of the best books ever written. I wish I were just discovering it for...more
Jan 06, 2009 02:06pm

Peggy Beach, this is the shock doctrine in action. I'm praying he reads a lot. I'm betting he does. Disaster Capitalism is what we have at the end of this l...more
Jan 06, 2009 04:23pm

Mar 06, 2013 Muneel Zaidi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook, favorites, non-fiction, non-fiction-business, non-fiction-history, non-fiction-social-science

I won't give you a real summery, instead here is a personal analogy that I think relates to this book.

I grew up in a Muslim household, and growing up I was certain Islam was the one true religion and that everybody should be Muslim. All other systems were wrong.

Then I started questioning my religion and others, I studied and asked critical questions. I concluded that no one religion was right. They all had some good and bad in them, and not all are as well suited for some people as others. I s...more

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Feb 22, 2009 Phil rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Woah. Unlike Friedman, who uses fairy dust and personal anecdotes to describe the modern world, Klein arms herself with over a 100 pages of notes and goes to war. This book is really a 4.5, because Klein's assault on Friedman is slightly misdirected. Milton Friedman was a pacifist and one of the leading public intellectuals in the movement against conscription in the US. Blaming Friedman for the Iraq War is an unfair and unfounded accusation.

Other than that, this book rocks. Admittedly, "Globali...more

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About Naomi Klein

Naomi Klein is a Canadian journalist, author and activist well known for her political analyses of corporate globalization.

Klein ranked 11th in the The 2005 Global Intellectuals Poll, a list of the world's top 100 public intellectuals compiled by Prospect magazine in conjunction with Foreign Policy magazine. She was the highest ranked woman on the list. Prospect based the list and its rankings ent...more

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Books by Naomi Klein

Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate

People-First Economics: Making a Clean Start for Jobs, Justice and Climate

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“Extreme violence has a way of preventing us from seeing the interests it serves.” — 44 people liked it

“The widespread abuse of prisoners is a virtually foolproof indication that politicians are trying to impose a system--whether political, religious or economic--that is rejected by large numbers of the people they are ruling. Just as ecologists define ecosystems by the presence of certain "indicator species" of plants and birds, torture is an indicator species of a regime that is engaged in a deeply anti-democratic project, even if that regime happens to have come to power through elections.” — 19 people liked it

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