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Shock Jock

Submitted by Albar, Jan 25, 2008 20:58

Good review. I wonder if it is not that capitalism requires shock, but any radical institutional change requires a major critical juncture of some sort. The same argument is obviously true of socialism, that it requires a major shock (revolution), to implement. Similarly, the Breton woods system, based on Keynsian policies that Klein advocates was the direct result of WWII.
I think one major flaw in Klein's reasoning is that she equates cause with consequence: her arguments about the Southern Cone dictatorships are not new. THey are actually about 35 years old going back to Argentine political scientist Guillermo O'Donnell who basically argued that dictatorships occurred because mass participation was limiting economic development; and that 'bureaucratic authoritarianism' was needed to 'deepen industrialization.' However, this reasoning was heavily criticized by later scholars because these type of explanations lack contingency and accident. To understand Pinochet's rise to power, for example, it is possible to think that Allende could have just done some things differently, ie. not appoint senior military officials to civilian positions, arm paramilitary supporters, and destroy the constitutional mandate of the military itself. It is not an exaggeration to say that Klein vastly oversimplifies these cases by leaving out these sorts of details and bringing in the 'master plan' narrative of disaster capitalism.

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Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
The Asian Tigers were with the "third approach" and were doing better than their neighbors. Ten years after the Asian... [MORE]	Bob	Aug 9, 2008 21:08
Hard to imagine you could write this review if you read the book carefully. No doubt Cowen skimmed the chapters... [MORE]	dopefish	Mar 7, 2008 09:48
It's so obvious that this "economist" did not take an objective viewpoint when analyzing Klein's book. It's so skewed. It... [MORE]	Kirk	Feb 26, 2008 14:20
Crediting "free markets" for the growth of freedom and modernity is like crediting "religion" for women's liberation. Feudalism is the... [MORE]	Uncle Milty	Feb 12, 2008 15:40
No doubt the reader of this review cannot deny the obvious and true arguement made by Cowen, Western economics has... [MORE]	bill	Feb 2, 2008 18:51
Even if you can't balance a checkbook, Naomi's Klein's fast-paced, meticulously sourced history of free trade economics is clear. It's... [MORE]	Peggy	Jan 29, 2008 20:51
To read Cowen's review one would think that Klein was advocating Stalinist economic policies as opposed to a return to... [MORE]	Nick	Jan 28, 2008 00:20
Good review. I wonder if it is not that capitalism requires shock, but any radical institutional change requires a major...	Albar	Jan 25, 2008 20:58
Why is it that critiques of Klein's Shock Doctrine, avoid her good points on Iraq. It's probably because she is... [MORE]	Christopher Hutton	Dec 17, 2007 23:34
The United States of America embarked upon a multi pronged "Cold War" after World War II. Part of that Cold... [MORE]	Lawrence Turner	Nov 25, 2007 16:31
The notion that the U.S. just happened to be around when all of these corporatist coups took place is demonstrably... [MORE]	noel	Nov 17, 2007 02:32
You mention that "New Zealand and Chile abandoned socialistic policies for freer markets because the former weren't working well and... [MORE]	Burton Hodge	Nov 15, 2007 01:49
One man's polemic doesn't offset another's esp. when that other is a talented wordsmith, and also an energetic and attractive... [MORE]	datadave	Nov 10, 2007 00:14
What you fail to realize in your assertion that Klein is indeed attacking the classical liberals, is that she isn't.... [MORE]	Josh	Nov 5, 2007 11:46
1973 - violent overthrow of a democratically elected socialist goverment leading to the mass killings and literally unpeakable torture of... [MORE]	Erik Bloom	Oct 31, 2007 16:55
". And when Alan Greenspan said during an interview that he fears the populist policies rising in South America -... [MORE]	Cain Adamsson	Nov 5, 2007 05:11
This is a very interesting article. It can be used to point out certain relevant critiques in terms of Naomi's... [MORE]	jan willem	Oct 27, 2007 12:44
Mr. Cowen appears unable to muster the strength to argue the facts that he accuses Klein of misrepresenting or oversimplifying.... [MORE]	Douglas Storm	Oct 21, 2007 11:08
I don't think Mr Cowen has read the book with much care. He wouldn't need to 'presume' that Ms Klein... [MORE]	Dick Wolff	Oct 12, 2007 19:12
I agree, the reviewer has very clearly not read this book. The Shock Doctrine is not a critique of capitalism... [MORE]	Beth	Jan 5, 2008 17:00
The prevailing winds are blowing hard to the left. The will of the ignorant will not be denied. Whatever the... [MORE]	Sammy Radpurtha	Oct 9, 2007 22:44
"The destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina expelled many poor black residents and allowed most of the city's public... [MORE]	Bumper	Oct 8, 2007 17:59
I didn't think much of Klein's book either, but the link between free-market advocacy and and torture advocacy seems very... [MORE]	mtraven	Oct 6, 2007 13:23
Cowen appears to believe that if anyone makes a claim about the distribution of resources, they must be held to... [MORE]	Frank	Oct 3, 2007 12:54
Frank's observation (see post dated Oct 23, 2007) points to a fundmental econometric flaw. The difference in zero and the... [MORE]	Glen	Jan 17, 2008 07:53
The Milton Freedman Katrina Reference is NOT out of 1962 but based on specific suggestions made by Freedman in an... [MORE]	Joey Gilgamesh	Oct 3, 2007 09:25

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