The Klein Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Polemics
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"So in the absence of serious arguments against the consequences of free markets, we are left with Klein’s reasonable critique of torture, dictatorships, government corruption, and corporate welfare. In the final analysis, The Shock Doctrine boils down to the curious claim that Milton Friedman and free markets are bad because governments are incompetent, corrupt, and cruel."--"The Klein Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Polemics" (2008) by Johan Norberg |
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"The Klein Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Polemics" (2008) is a text by Johan Norberg, a review of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2007) by Naomi Klein.
Abstract:
"The Shock Doctrine purports to be an exposé of the ruthless nature of free‐market capitalism and its chief recent exponent, Milton Friedman. Klein argues that capitalism goes hand in hand with dictatorship and brutality and that dictators and other unscrupulous political figures take advantage of “shocks”—catastrophes real or manufactured—to consolidate their power and implement unpopular market reforms. …
Klein’s analysis is hopelessly flawed at virtually every level. Friedman’s own words reveal him to be an advocate of peace, democracy, and individual rights. He argued that gradual economic reforms were often preferable to swift ones and that the public should be fully informed about them, the better to prepare themselves in advance. Further, Friedman condemned the Pinochet regime and opposed the war in Iraq.
Klein’s historical examples also fall apart under scrutiny. For example, Klein alleges that the Tiananmen Square crackdown was intended to crush opposition to pro‐market reforms, when in fact it caused liberalization to stall for years. She also argues that Thatcher used the Falklands War as cover for her unpopular economic policies, when actually those economic policies and their results enjoyed strong public support.
Klein’s broader empirical claims fare no better. Surveys of political and economic freedom reveal that the less politically free regimes tend to resist market liberalization, while those states with greater political freedom tend to pursue economic freedom as well."
See also
- Chicago school of economics
- Criticism of capitalism
- Political economy
- Shock therapy (economics)
- U. S. foreign policy
