---
product_id: 1705066
title: "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism"
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# Global case studies from Chile to Iraq Top #4 in Iraq History & Global Politics 4.7/5 star rating from 3,575 reviews The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

**Brand:** naomi klein
**Price:** ¥6505
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## Summary

> 📚 Dive into the economics behind global crises before everyone else does!

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- **What is this?** The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by naomi klein
- **How much does it cost?** ¥6505 with free shipping
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- naomi klein enthusiasts

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## Key Features

- • **Bestseller Status:** Ranked #14,735 overall and top 5 in multiple political and historical categories
- • **Global Shockwaves:** In-depth analysis of neoliberalism’s impact from Latin America to Iraq
- • **Award-Winning Insight:** Winner of the Warwick Prize for Writing, critically acclaimed
- • **Eye-Opening Reporting:** Naomi Klein’s groundbreaking term and concept reshaping economic discourse
- • **Unmasking Disaster Capitalism:** Explore how crises fuel radical economic shifts worldwide

## Overview

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein is an international bestseller and award-winning exposé revealing how neoliberal economic policies exploit disasters worldwide. With a 4.7-star rating from over 3,500 readers, it critically examines the rise of 'disaster capitalism' through global case studies, challenging the myth of peaceful free-market triumphs and spotlighting the violent economic transformations post-crisis.

## Description

International Bestseller
Winner of the Warwick Prize for Writing 18th in The Guardian's top 100 Greatest Books since 2000
"Impassioned, hugely informative, wonderfully controversial, and scary as hell.” ―John le Carré
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, 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 witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this time with economic "shock treatment," losing their land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers.
The Shock Doctrine retells the story of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman's free market economic revolution. In contrast to the popular myth of this movement's peaceful global victory, Klein shows how it has exploited moments of shock and extreme violence in order to implement its economic policies in so many parts of the world from Latin America and Eastern Europe to South Africa, Russia, and Iraq.
At the core of disaster capitalism is the use of cataclysmic events to advance radical privatization combined with the privatization of the disaster response itself. Klein argues that by capitalizing on crises, created by nature or war, the disaster capitalism complex now exists as a booming new economy, and is the violent culmination of a radical economic project that has been incubating for fifty years.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Asin | 0312427999 |
| Dimensions | 5.92 x 1.8 x 8.29 inches |
| Edition | First Edition |
| Isbn 10 | 9780312427993 |
| Isbn 13 | 978-0312427993 |
| Item Weight | 1.22 pounds |
| Language | English |
| Print Length | 720 pages |
| Publication Date | June 24, 2008 |
| Publisher | Metropolitan Books |

## Images

![The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61Vcf4MlbOL.jpg)

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Shock Doctrine: A Great Examination of the Role of Economics, Politics, and Globalization
*by  on Reviewed in the United States April 29, 2010*

NOTE: this review only covers Part 1 - Part 5In The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein surveys the rise of and subsequent use of the "shock doctrine" as a method of instilling neoliberal policies into the governments of various countries from Chile to Russia. She traces the birth of this doctrine, its relation to shock therapy, and the way countless economics, dictators, and other officials have attempted to craft a new world order that never went according to plan. With a definite bias, Naomi Klein makes no apologies for her views, yet as radical as some might interpret her to be, she presents a compelling view of this political and economic philosophy that certainly resonates with current events, particularly the earthquake that devastated Haiti earlier this year.If there is one figure at the heart of Klein's narrative of neoliberal ideas it is Milton Friedman, the figurehead of neoliberalism, a man who counseled various foreign leaders in their attempt to implement the shock doctrine. The primary aim of the shock doctrine is to "shock" the economy of the country by drastically changing key policies that align with the neoliberal agenda. Most often, these times of drastic imbalance follow an uprising, coup, war, or the like. In this state, the citizens are already feeling a sense of distress and therefore, any additional shocks to the economy should not be a major issue. So, what Klein is attempting to do is to show that capitalism is not born of freedom and that "unfettered free markets go hand in hand with democracy" (pg. 22), but instead to challenge that "official story of capitalism" by demonstrating that capitalism, "has consistently been midwife by the most brutal forms of coercion, inflicted on the collective body politic as well as on the countless individual bodies" (pg. 23). Whether or not one subscribes to the beliefs of Naomi Klein, she does propose a very convincing look at the ways economics and political intertwine on a global scale.Beginning with the links between shock therapy and the shock doctrine, Klein basically suggests they work the same, both are aimed at erasing a "memory" if you will, to create a clean slate. In shock therapy, a new set of behaviors may be imprinted, in the shock doctrine, a new set of economic policies is to be enacted, specifically neoliberal policies - free trade, deregulation, privatization, etc. The chapter on this relationship between the two actually works to shock the reader, to show how unscrupulous these doctors were in trying to treat their patients, and these same doctors were coincidentally enough government funded for the most part.Without going into too much detail, subsequent chapter discussed the way the shock doctrine was executed (or attempted) in countries around the world; Klein uses Chile, Poland, South Africa, Russia, and China as prime examples. Each case follows a similar trajectory with a leader or faction in power that a certain cabal of insiders who wanted to shock the countries political and economic systems until they were replaced with neoliberal ideas, policies, and practices. In Chile, probably the best example from the book, a group of Chilean students taught at the University of Chicago (home to a neoliberal contingent of economists) formed a group called "The Chicago Boys," and these men infiltrated government positions and advised the military leaders who were planning a coup to force the president out of power. This scenario was repeated in several different incarnations around the world; Klein shows how governments from Communist to Democratic were all injected with a neoliberal agenda and how shocks in all the examined countries facilitated the changes that were to be necessarily to support a change. All cases, although very similar, are not always the same as the case of Russia and China illustrate. As these countries seemed to be transforming into democratic countries, underlying this adjustment was the shock doctrine, which was exercised differently than it was in the cases of the Latin American countries. Interestingly, as was the case in South Africa, and an example that stands out slightly, although Nelson Mandela and the ANC (African National Congress) came into power, their control over South Africa was more than show than an actuality. The men - white Afrikaners that had been in power for decades - continued to control the country's politics and economics behind the scene. But in all of these examples, the main point is that government coups, backhanding dealings, and other shady transactions were carried out to impose a new rule of law - that being neoliberalism.Part Five and one of the most interesting and compelling sections deals with the shock doctrine in the United States. Here, Klein weaves together the conjunctures between all the Bush era players, Bush Jr., Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. and shows how each of these men had all the money in the world to gain from privatization efforts pre and post 9/11. The figures that Klein quotes Rumsfeld and Cheney making in their business ventures are mind boggling, and only reinforce the Bush administration's need to want to impose their own form of shock doctrine. What is most frightening about these figures is the example of Rumsfeld who was Chairman of Gilead Sciences, the company that patented Tamiflu. In other words, in any disaster where large quantities of Tamiflu were needed, and while people were suffering, Rumsfeld and the company would being doing financially well. Although this whole section was a little too "conspiracy theory" for my personal liking, Klein does you make one think more about the implications of those government officials being tied so closely to large for profit corporations.Overall, The Shock Doctrine is well researched, clear, well written and most of all a very, very compelling read. If you agree with Klein's views, you will love this book, if you are more of the neoliberal and conservative variety, you will probably not enjoying reading it and will certainly disagree with Naomi Klein and what she has to say. Overall, I think no matter one's political or ideological leanings, The Shock Doctrine makes the point of how tied together we are in a globalized world. Globalization does not just affect politics, economics, culture, or society. It doesn't just affect material goods, but it influences the way we all live our lives in the twenty-first century. As many reviewers have stated already, this book is eye opening, yet it offers the hope that maybe if we all become a little more educated about what is going on in the world, we could do something more to change it to the way we see fit.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Shockingly Powerful
*by  on Reviewed in the United States July 14, 2008*

The late Milton Friedman, the renowned economist, believed that democracy and a free-market economy went hand-in-hand, that the greatest threat to both was nationalization, government regulation, and social spending. He preached this philosophy to his disciples at the University of Chicago School of Economics, and they would go forth spreading the Gospel according to the Book of Milton.There is also the International Monetary Fund, an agency founded after World War II to help struggling countries and their economies get back on their feet. Many of its managers and policy makers will be graduates of the Chicago School of Economics, and they will begin to impose the Friedman creed wherever possible.There is only one thing wrong. No population seems to vote in the people who support their brand of economics. Its first success is when a socialist, democratically elected President of Chile, Salvador Allende, is overthrown and killed when the presidential palace is stormed by fascists. Augusto Pinochet comes into power and immediately places the "Chicago boys" in charge of the economy. With the death of price controls and lunch programs, Chileans find themselves spending one quarter of their monthly salaries just to buy bread. They will leave hours earlier for work than usual because they can no longer afford public transportation. Even Chile's social security program, once a model of efficiency is privatized, becoming virtually worthless overnight. Chilean children begin fainting in school from lack of food or milk and many stop attending altogether.The story of Chile will be repeated in Argentina, Bolivia, China, Peru, Poland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Russia where the IMF will demand that borrowers meet Draconian conditions before they lend money. In each case these austerity measures will be made overnight, all at once. A shocked population will come to their senses if such radical changes are made over time. They will be able to organize, mobilize and challenge the implementation of such policies. It has to come all at once, right after elections, a coup, or a hurricane when the population will be too dazed and disorganized to respond. This will be the shock, or as author Naomi Klein calls it, shock doctrine. For those who are still lucid, there is the next step in the shock doctrine, terrorize, torture, or make them disappear.In each case, in each country, prices on food and other common items will go through the roof, the number of destitute will increase exponentially, and democracy will be squashed. In China, the communist elite will impose these changes on the masses while ensuring that they will profit handsomely from the economic and social upheaval. President Clinton will cheer the economic shock doctrine instituted by Boris Yeltsin as he dissolves the Court and the Parliament, bringing the Russian army out to attack the latter, which killed more than 300 people and several deputies. A new class of super mega apparatchiks will emerge increasing the divide between the "have mores" and the "have nothings," and Russians will put up with a few KGB murders and disappearances for the promise of stability that Vladimir Putin will provide.The Polish people, fed up with the broken promises of Solidarity who succumbed to IMF demands to relieve them of their crushing debt, will be thrown out of office in 1996 elections. Nelson Mandela will focus so much on achieving political control of South Africa he will neglect the real political power of controlling the economic engines that run the nation. He soon discovers that without economic power, he has no political muscle. He becomes a slave of economic apartheid. Shanty towns will get larger and people will become poorer. The population is disillusioned with their new-found "equality." The tsunami in Sri Lanka will allow the hoteliers to make a deal with the government, and place security guards around the beaches of what once belonged to villagers who fished from there for hundreds of years. After all, what right did they have to be there? Besides, the smell of fish made their guests complain. They will be driven inland where they will be given boats and houses, just no access to water to fish.But that could never be allowed to happen here, or could it? One of the first things President George W. Bush does after he finally realizes what happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina is remove union wage scale that contractors would have to pay to laborers. (After all, it is the corporations that must benefit the most from disaster capitalism, not the people of New Orleans). The shock has begun as developers are already seeing how they can take over the utterly destroyed neighborhoods of the poor and turn them into luxury condos and hotels. Charter schools are replacing the public schools and teachers. Contractors will wake up illegal laborers in the night to tell them that the Immigration officers are coming to arrest them. They will run away without having been paid. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, once a functional, effective, national emergency response unit, has had so much work farmed out to contractors, it cannot mount an effective response to the disaster. They will pay top dollar for roofing that can be done at a fraction of the cost. They will supply trailers for homeless that are made of material unsafe to breathe, and people will die in a stadium because no one can take care of them.In Iraq, the local population rose up after our invasion and began to elect their own leaders and councils. They announced plans to take over city governments, services and industry. When Iraqis were asked what they wanted more of when surveyed, they clamored for more government jobs. But L. Paul Bremer wasn't about to allow democracy to get in the way of disaster capitalism. He ordered the military to disband all local democratic initiatives, which he replaced with a council not chosen by the Iraqi people, but by him.George Bush talks democracy (in Iraq), but walks capitalism by performing a Marshal Plan in reverse. The original plan implemented right after World War II called for keeping foreign investors out of Germany. Our government wanted the Germans to be able to build up their own industry and wealth. Not so in Iraq. Unemployed and starving Iraqis watched how American contractors brought in cheap Asian labor to rebuild their country. Iraqi unemployment remains at approximately sixty percent. American oil companies and American banks make long-term contracts with the new Iraqi government, and the IMF wants Iraq to sell off its own oil industry to foreigners. The second largest military commitment in Iraq, after the Americans, will be mercenaries.Does anyone wonder why there is an insurgency? "No 'capitalization' without representation!"The author makes it clear. In every country that holds free elections, no one votes for the shock doctrine of disaster capitalism. No one will vote away social programs, controls, or selling off their industries and companies to foreign investors. Klein's conclusion? Capitalism and democracy are not inherently compatible as Friedman always believed. It was just the opposite.This book is powerful and moving. As I reread my review, I feel I have not done her book justice in relating the power and depth of Naomi Klein's words. Her documentation is exceptional. Her ability to craft together different events and present them in a coherent and believable hypothesis is necromantic.Once in a while you find a book, a special book, one you keep as a reference, a "go-to" one. This is such a text. It is one of the two most important I have read for 2008. I have enough admiration for this woman's work that I would buy anything she writes, without hesitation. Her writing will hold your attention."The Shock Doctrine" is eye-opening and of course, absolutely shocking.July 14, 2008Bastille Day--How Appropriate.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The elephant identified
*by  on Reviewed in the United States November 1, 2011*

I've read dozens (hundreds?) of books about what went wrong during the Bush administration (as well as books about what's continued to go wrong under Obama too). Some books are about specific things such as the Iraq war or GITMO. Others look at more overarching themes such as executive power or disregard for the rule of law. Most of such books have made some important points and contributed some valuable analysis, but I've usually been left feeling like the blind men arguing over what they've discovered. "It's a rope," says one. "No, it's a wall," says another. "You're both wrong, claims the third, "it's a tree trunk."Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" is the first book that correctly identifies the elephant. Now, perhaps Ms. Klein doesn't have the elephant quite right - maybe her elephant's ears are a tad too large, or perhaps its tail is a bit too short, but overall, she has described the elephant remarkably well.Following an introduction, Klein opens with the story of Dr. Ewen Cameron, a psychiatrist who believed that in order to "heal" his patients, he first needed to destroy their dysfunctional personality structure and "regress" them back to infancy in order to create a "clean slate" upon which to build a new, healthy personality. To accomplish this, he used a barrage of "treatments" from psychoactive drugs to extreme doses of electroshock therapy to sensory deprivation for weeks or even months at a time. The only problem, of course, is that he never successfully re-created fresh, healthy people - all he did was traumatize people and leave their old selves virtually destroyed.Now, it may seem a bit of a leap from one obscure Canadian psychiatrist to the global wave of "shock and awe" which has escalated especially in the last decade, but Ms. Klein has followed the trail carefully and plausibly. One of the first and most important stops along this trail is the economist Milton Friedman, the godfather of the "Chicago School" system of supply-sided free market capitalism.Friedman and his followers believe that if only there were purely unregulated, completely free markets, all or nearly all world problems would correct themselves through market "signals". Friedmanites believe that most if not all problems result from government regulations which distort the markets and confuse the signals. Their problem, especially during the height of New Deal Keynesian economics, was that no purely free market existed anywhere. In language eerily reminiscent of Ewen Cameron, Friedman wished to create a "clean slate" upon which "healthy" capitalism could be built.The next problem, however, was the pure capitalism was (and remains) deeply unpopular and, hence, difficult to implement in a democratic state. It turns out, fancy that, that given the choice, people *want* their government to protect them from rapacious corporate interests. The "Southern Cone" region of South America exemplified this problem. Having recently broken away from European colonial powers, nations like Chile and Argentina began building "developmentalist" economies - basically capitalistic economies protected by government regulations. Furthermore, these developmentalist economies were by and large successful. And wildly popular.The Friedmanites initially tried to overcome developmentalism (note, despite the rhetoric, the concern was never about communism) by sending hundreds of Chile's brightest students to study economics at the University of Chicago. These "Chicago Boys" were to return home and implement their newfound knowledge. But they weren't taken very seriously back home, since developmentalism was still in full-swing.Their chance came with the brutal and bloody overthrow of the democratically elected Salvador Allende by the U.S. backed Augusto Pinochet. In correspondence with Pinochet, Friedman urged Pinochet to use the window of opportunity created by the shock of the violent overthrow to implement "shock therapy". While the country was still reeling, and while dissidents were being actively and publicly silenced, Pinochet opened up nationalized companies to foreign private investors at fire sale prices. He repealed trade restrictions which resulted in a flood of cheap foreign goods which put many local companies out of business. In the name of "austerity" and reducing debt, he cut back on social programs for the poor and very young and old. Most Chileans were too busy trying to survive and put their lives back together to protest. Those who did tended to mysteriously disappear or simply get executed on the spot.Of course, even with the markets thrown wide open, the markets did not correct the ills of the country. In fact, things got significantly worse until some of the worst of the abuses were halted and some basic regulations restored. Meanwhile, over half of Chile's population descended into poverty and destitution.In country after country, Klein details how the same basic patterns repeated over and over again, with variations to account for the learning curve of the Chicago Bys and the different initial circumstances of each country. Indonesia, Argentina, Uruguay, Poland, Russia, South Africa, China and Iraq all experienced variations of "disaster capitalism" following (or during) wars, coups or revolutions, often in direct opposition to what the revolutionaries were fighting for. Time after time, nationalized industries were ripped from the people and pillaged by foreigners while governments cut back on aid to their own people. Time after time free market capitalism was implemented by brute force and shock therapy because it could not be implemented by democratic vote.Even the "developed" nations were not immune to the assault by the Chicago Boys. Both Margaret Thatcher in Britain and Ronald Reagan in the U.S. were ardent admirers of Milton Friedman, but both knew that they couldn't get away with what Pinochet and Suharto had. But both found their openings to begin making lasting changes - Thatcher used the Falkland's war while Reagan used the air traffic controllers strike, among others.Klein also shows how disaster capitalism gets implemented after natural disasters. Fishing families swept from their villages by the 2004 tsunami returned to find their beaches closed to them but wide open for luxury hotels and tourist resorts. Refugees from 2006 Hurricane Katrina returned to find no effort to rebuild their public schools, but charter schools already infested the city.Klein's book is a searing indictment of Milton Friedman and his followers, their morally bankrupt economic philosophy and the wide spread pain and suffering they have caused. This book is a must-read for anyone who wonders how we got where we are now. How it is that in the richest nation on earth, upwards of 10% of the population is unemployed, more than one in four children is food insecure and 49 million American don't have basic health coverage, while the top 1% own fleets of cars and boats and even entire islands.My only disappointment with the book is that it was published in 2007 - just before the Great Recession. I hope that Klein comes out with a follow up soon. In her final chapter, "Shock wears off", Klein talks about a number of hopeful signs, many coming from the first countries to be shocked and awed. It is her belief that as shock wears off, people become shock resistant and once more able to fight back. Perhaps that's what we're seeing with the Occupy movement.This far-reaching, wide-ranging and hard-hitting tour de force is also extensively documented in 100+ pages of end notes plus several asterisked footnotes. This book should be required reading for every high school and college economics class, if not for every American. I can't recommend it highly enough. Amazon only allows five stars, but I give it ten.

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