«Superb»
This well-researched book is clearly written and should be read by anyone wanting to understand world politics and economics.
[Monday, December 01, 2008]
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«Food for thought»
For the first nine chapters of the SHOCK DOCTRINE by Naomi Klein I could not put the book down until I had finished reading it word for word. Having been suitably impressed I immediately purchased three additional copies and have given them out to professional colleagues who I know enjoy reading about history and economics, especially in regards to humanitarian and development issues in third world countries, and their volatile causes/treatments.
I work in a team of people providing business advice on risk, governance, financial viability, and management issues within government circles. We rely on evidence based information and examples of best practice standards in an attempt to form meaningful, arms length, positive future based recommendations to safeguard the needs of various stakeholders. This is done to uphold a particular values and belief system within the culture we operate in.
Naomi Klein's SHOCK DOCTRINE provides a stunning example of all of these factors - the theory, the principles to be applied from this theory, the political element, the execution, the results, and the feedback and refinement of the theory. The context is the way in which free-market economic revolutions require the subjugation of the psychological free will of the people to form their own consensus, and their own democracy, to be accepted. While I'm still slowly digesting the rest of the book, one of the most compelling observations I think KLEIN makes early on, is that purist capitalism does not allow for the presence of competing or tempering world views; it requires a monopoly on ideology. This monopoly condition is a total contradiction in the free-market theory which is supposed to actively encourage competition so that ALL consumer's utility can be maximized at the "bliss point" under Pareto Optimality conditions i.e. having the ability to execute CHOICE is the defining benefit of liberalism, and free-markets over state run command economies.
If you're interested in the use of university silo economics based research, psychological trauma, their theoretical underpinnings and how these have been imposed on real people and communities, and the variable results (some negative, some positive), the SHOCK DOCTRINE is essential and excellent reading. You don't have to agree or disagree with everything presented here; the value of a good non-fiction book like Klein's is in the evidence base, and how carefully linked the conclusion is made to this base. Definitely food for thought.
[Friday, November 28, 2008]
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«The Shock Doctrine audiobook»
Not being an economist, I found this audiobook understandable and interesting. The author made the concepts clear, a point of view everyone should consider within the mix.
[Thursday, November 27, 2008]
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