The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein is a very interesting book that talks about how the various countries of the world have relied on disasters in order to jump start their economies. Klein's thesis can be adequately surmised by her sentence in the book where she writes, “Some of the most infamous human rights violations of this era, which have tended to be viewed as sadistic acts carried out by antidemocratic regimes, were in fact either committed with the deliberate intent of terrorizing the public or actively harnessed to prepare the ground for the introduction of radical free-market 'reforms'” (Klein, 9). Even though many critics (e.g. Pal, 43)believe that Klein overdid it with her analogy about the shock therapy and the disaster-driven economies, she nevertheless presents a very interesting view of how the various economies of the world are progressing.
Klein explains her point of view by talking about how certain elements in various countries use things like war, terror attacks, and natural disasters as 'shock therapy' in favor of moving along their economies. Klein (pp. 25-26) writes, “I am writing about shock. About how countries are shocked--by wars, terror attacks, coups d'etat and natural disasters. And then how they are shocked again--by corporations and politicians who exploit the fear and disorientation of this first shock to push through economic shock therapy. And how people who dare to resist this shock politics are, if necessary, shocked for a third time--by police and prison interrogators.” Klein criticizes global capitalism and blames it for most of the problems that are ongoing in the world today. She talks about how events such as the overthrow of Salvador Allende, the collapse of communism, the destruction of New Orleans by Katrina, and the invasion of Iraq are seen by the capitalists as opportunistic events that work to get their economic ball in motion.
Even though many people have criticized Klein for taking such a negative take on the current world's most successful economic system of capitalism, one can find certain truths and reasons to her logic. It is no secret that many countries of the world have found themselves in economic stagnation and/or decline and have used things like war and disasters to recuperate from their economic slump. One of the most controversial of these have been the September 11 attacks. These attacks shocked and paralyzed not just the US but also the rest of the world. Yet, we find that many economies of the world, including that of the US and some in the Asian region, fared very well after these attacks. This was because the US began its War ad Terror, which gave it precedence to invade countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. At the same time, countries like Pakistan, who became US allies in this fight, received many grants and funding. This, coupled with the US economy being fueled by war, resulted in many economies being revived. It is this kind of a shock doctrine and incidences of disaster-capitalism that Klein presents in her book.
Another example of this kind of a 'shock therapy' can be found in the events following the disaster brought on in New Orleans by the hurricane Katrina. Katrina left thousands of people homeless and many people shifted from New Orleans to other areas. This caused a lot of money to be spent on housing and rebuilding of the city. However, many capitalists also saw this as an opportunity to make a lot of money, with real estate prices in the neighboring areas went up sharply and many people were able to make a lot of money. We can be sure that Hurricane Katrina was not just a local issue. Its reparations spread to the whole world in the view of nationalism. Nationalism is mostly presented as a radical shift in the consciousness by people globally when they encounter modernity, both technologically and culturally. This brings us to the ideas concerning globalization and how Katrina has not only adversely affected New Orleans, but also positive affected the world's economy. Globalization would in effect mean that a global culture is derived for all countries all over the world so that they can all work in a very viable and concrete economic environment. Many economists believe that investment is required for growth and economic growth provides the only sustainable way of improving living standards, and therefore an integration of cultures is the answer. However, it is not just the volume of investment that matters for growth - it is the productivity gains that result. Growth can contribute to increases in living standards in two ways. First, employment-led growth raises household income, the money earned can be used to educate children or increase skills. Second, companies are a main source of tax revenues for governments and growing economies generate more taxes revenues to invest in
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