Globalization and CultureWar I

Week 7October 1, 2014

Naomi Klein: The Shock Doctrine

● What does the concept “shock doctrine” describe?

● How does Klein’s theory about the expansion of neoliberal policies differ from the usual free market story?

● How is “disaster complex” related to “military industrial complex,” and how is it different?

● What is the “homeland security bubble?”

● What other “industrial complexes” do we learn about?

Shock Doctrine

What does the concept “shock doctrine” describe?

Shock Doctrine

What does the concept “shock doctrine” describe?

Milton Friedman: Periods of traumatic crisis are ideal time to make massive neoliberal policy changes.

Changes are along three lines: privatization, deregulation, defunding of social programs.

Shock Doctrine

How does Klein’s theory about the expansion of neoliberal policies differ from the usual free market story?

Shock Doctrine

How does Klein’s theory about the expansion of neoliberal policies differ from the usual free market story?

Classic liberal economic theory: free markets systems are superior and will naturally spread

Neoliberal addendum: Democracy and free market go hand-in-hand

Disaster Capitalism Complex

Military Industrial Complex

Disaster Capitalism Complex

Military Industrial ComplexEisenhower: warned about danger when profit motives are introduced to war

Disaster Capitalism Complex

Military Industrial ComplexEisenhower: warned about danger when profit motives are introduced to war

How is disaster complex related, and how is it different?

Disaster Capitalism Complex

Military Industrial ComplexEisenhower: warned about danger when profit motives are introduced to war

How is disaster complex related, and how is it different?

privatization of disaster causes and responses; outsourcing of “core” government activities

“And that is the post-September 11 difference: before, wars and disasters provided opportunities for a narrow sector of the economy - the makers of fighter jets, for instance, or the construction companies that rebuilt bombed-out bridges. The primary economic role of wars and disaster responses are so fully privatized that they are themselves the new market; there is no need to wait until after the war for the boom - the medium is the message.” (Klein, p. 13)

Homeland Security Bubble

How does Ch. 14 illustrate Klein’s argument?

e.g., Who were the major players, what is the role of venture capitalists, what were the effects of September 11th, what gets privatized?

Homeland Security Bubble

How does Ch. 14 illustrate Klein’s argument?

e.g., Who were the major players, what is the role of venture capitalists, what were the effects of September 11th, what gets privatized?

How does this illustrate Harvey’s argument that neoliberal policy should be understood as redistribution, rather than wealth creation?

Industrial Complex, Inc.?

What other “industrial complexes” do we learn about in Ch. 14?

Industrial Complex, Inc.?

What other “industrial complexes” do we learn about in Ch. 14?

Rumsfeld: medical industrial complex

Bush II: private prisons in Texas

Syria and the Disaster Complex?

Report by the Public Accountability Initiative, as reported by Democracy Now, October 18, 2013