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Product: Book
ISBN-10: 0-19-928327-3
ISBN-13: 9780199283279
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Country:
Year: January 18, 2007
Size: 12.70 x 19.30 x 1.78cm
Number of pages: 254
Weight: 159gr
Binding: Paperback
ISBN-10: 0-19-928327-3
ISBN-13: 9780199283279
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Country:
Year: January 18, 2007
Size: 12.70 x 19.30 x 1.78cm
Number of pages: 254
Weight: 159gr
Binding: Paperback
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Product Description
Neoliberalism--the doctrine that market exchange is an ethic in itself, capable of acting as a guide for all human action--has become dominant in both thought and practice throughout much of the world since 1970 or so. Writing for a wide audience, David Harvey, author of The New Imperialism and The Condition of Postmodernity, here tells the political-economic story of where neoliberalization came from and how it proliferated on the world stage. Through critical engagement with this history, he constructs a framework, not only for analyzing the political and economic dangers that now surround us, but also for assessing the prospects for the more socially just alternatives being advocated by many oppositional movements.
Neoliberalism--the doctrine that market exchange is an ethic in itself, capable of acting as a guide for all human action--has become dominant in both thought and practice throughout much of the world since 1970 or so. Writing for a wide audience, David Harvey, author of The New Imperialism and The Condition of Postmodernity, here tells the political-economic story of where neoliberalization came from and how it proliferated on the world stage. Through critical engagement with this history, he constructs a framework, not only for analyzing the political and economic dangers that now surround us, but also for assessing the prospects for the more socially just alternatives being advocated by many oppositional movements.
reviews
our goose is cooked 
so this is how the rich and powerful do it! what will be taken away from the ordinary citizen during and after this current financial crisis? I doubt there is any way for the small fry to oppose the entrenched powers that rule our lives, our country and the world. To oppose the rulers is to be labeled »un-American«, »un-patriotic«, »socialist« and worse. The top 1% will NEVER let their power slip away. We're toast. Read this book and see why we can't win.
so this is how the rich and powerful do it! what will be taken away from the ordinary citizen during and after this current financial crisis? I doubt there is any way for the small fry to oppose the entrenched powers that rule our lives, our country and the world. To oppose the rulers is to be labeled »un-American«, »un-patriotic«, »socialist« and worse. The top 1% will NEVER let their power slip away. We're toast. Read this book and see why we can't win.
An excellent example of Ecopolinomic history
David Harvey gives an excellent exposition of Ecopolinomics (which is a concatenation of economics + politics to represent their concomitant activities) over mainly the last 30 years. He explains the causations of the doctrine and its development in the last century and its relevance (and more) to the current century. This book and another, »Web of Debt «(ISBN: 0979560829), complement each other. If readers read both books and correlate the information, they will see greed reflected in history on a grand scale. Economics & politics are intertwined and inseparable, for humans are no different from other creatures in their quest to survive, even at the expense of their fellow creatures, whether inadvertently or wilfully. Which is why the understanding of economics & politics must be understood together, both historically and currently. Neoliberal theory makes the assumption that individual freedoms are guaranteed by freedom of the market and of trade (Global marketing and free trade). The freedoms it embodies reflect the interests of private property owners, businesses, multinational corporations, and financial capital. This would include reversal of nationalisations, privatising public assets, opening up natural resources (fishing, etc.) to private and unregulated exploitation (of assets even belonging to indigenous inhabitants), and facilitating foreign direct investment and freer trade. The doctrine is very much related to the laissez-faire theory of the Scottish economist Adam Smith (1723 – 1790), which was the belief that if mankind were given the freedom to act out of self-interest (selfishness?) and pursue maximum personal gain, the consequences would be »most agreeable to the interests of the whole of society«. Neoliberalism in the last 30 years developed as a reaction to the crisis of (insufficient) monetary capital accumulation in the 1970s. The neoliberal economic and political doctrine began being put into practice by the followers (the »Chicago boys«) of economist Milton Friedman (1912 – 2006) in the USA, and eventually got applied in Britain by Margaret Thatcher (and even by Blair). This trend is continuing even today (in 2009). It is precisely because of that reaction 30 years ago that the current world financial crisis has eventually occurred, amongst other things. It explains the fact that absolutely most people in »developed« countries have the least amount of wealth, because monetary capital is concentrated in the hands of the few (especially those directing multinational corporations, including investment banks). Zimbabwe is an example of an exception, because it has been undergoing »capital decolonisation«, but be assured there is reason for that, because there is a theory that says that »shock therapy« (by violent natural causes or human intervention) to a country is a prerequisite for capital colonization (by USA, British and EU Imperialism). Naomi Klein's discourse on »disaster capitalism« (»Shock Doctrine«, in audio-book or paperback) appears largely based on Harvey's exposition and is a sensational exposé of »Neoliberalism« in action brought about through the events of violent »capital colonization« (not human colonization) of so-called developing countries by capitalist countries (mainly by the EU, USA, and Britain). The economist John Maynard Keynes (1883 – 1946) once said: »The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else«. [ … ]
David Harvey gives an excellent exposition of Ecopolinomics (which is a concatenation of economics + politics to represent their concomitant activities) over mainly the last 30 years. He explains the causations of the doctrine and its development in the last century and its relevance (and more) to the current century. This book and another, »Web of Debt «(ISBN: 0979560829), complement each other. If readers read both books and correlate the information, they will see greed reflected in history on a grand scale. Economics & politics are intertwined and inseparable, for humans are no different from other creatures in their quest to survive, even at the expense of their fellow creatures, whether inadvertently or wilfully. Which is why the understanding of economics & politics must be understood together, both historically and currently. Neoliberal theory makes the assumption that individual freedoms are guaranteed by freedom of the market and of trade (Global marketing and free trade). The freedoms it embodies reflect the interests of private property owners, businesses, multinational corporations, and financial capital. This would include reversal of nationalisations, privatising public assets, opening up natural resources (fishing, etc.) to private and unregulated exploitation (of assets even belonging to indigenous inhabitants), and facilitating foreign direct investment and freer trade. The doctrine is very much related to the laissez-faire theory of the Scottish economist Adam Smith (1723 – 1790), which was the belief that if mankind were given the freedom to act out of self-interest (selfishness?) and pursue maximum personal gain, the consequences would be »most agreeable to the interests of the whole of society«. Neoliberalism in the last 30 years developed as a reaction to the crisis of (insufficient) monetary capital accumulation in the 1970s. The neoliberal economic and political doctrine began being put into practice by the followers (the »Chicago boys«) of economist Milton Friedman (1912 – 2006) in the USA, and eventually got applied in Britain by Margaret Thatcher (and even by Blair). This trend is continuing even today (in 2009). It is precisely because of that reaction 30 years ago that the current world financial crisis has eventually occurred, amongst other things. It explains the fact that absolutely most people in »developed« countries have the least amount of wealth, because monetary capital is concentrated in the hands of the few (especially those directing multinational corporations, including investment banks). Zimbabwe is an example of an exception, because it has been undergoing »capital decolonisation«, but be assured there is reason for that, because there is a theory that says that »shock therapy« (by violent natural causes or human intervention) to a country is a prerequisite for capital colonization (by USA, British and EU Imperialism). Naomi Klein's discourse on »disaster capitalism« (»Shock Doctrine«, in audio-book or paperback) appears largely based on Harvey's exposition and is a sensational exposé of »Neoliberalism« in action brought about through the events of violent »capital colonization« (not human colonization) of so-called developing countries by capitalist countries (mainly by the EU, USA, and Britain). The economist John Maynard Keynes (1883 – 1946) once said: »The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else«. [ … ]
Time to move on 
This book is as one-sided as extreme versions of neoliberalism, of which there are currently few adherents. Hence it is too easy to set up strawmen to attack. Further, much of the intellectual terrain has moved beyond Left and Right, or State and market, so the book is rehashing old debates of the 1980s, with superficial updates (e.g. China, which is not Harvey's area of expertise). Basically, markets need institutions to function, so there is no pure market. Markets are good at certain things, such as the need for proper pricing of resources (Friedman's and Hayek's often forgotten main point), and bad at others (e.g. income distribution or handling externalities, which most people know, apart from Nozick's weak defense).
This book is as one-sided as extreme versions of neoliberalism, of which there are currently few adherents. Hence it is too easy to set up strawmen to attack. Further, much of the intellectual terrain has moved beyond Left and Right, or State and market, so the book is rehashing old debates of the 1980s, with superficial updates (e.g. China, which is not Harvey's area of expertise). Basically, markets need institutions to function, so there is no pure market. Markets are good at certain things, such as the need for proper pricing of resources (Friedman's and Hayek's often forgotten main point), and bad at others (e.g. income distribution or handling externalities, which most people know, apart from Nozick's weak defense).
A Seminal Work
David Harvey had masterfully unmasked the machinations of the world plutocracy in its quest for (further) wealth and domination. Concluding on the basis of hard facts, Harvey shows how certain people and institutions have deliberately introduced a major political and economical shift in the last 30 years, a shift that has brought the world back to the dark ages in terms of human decencies. The book might have actually been titled »A Brief History of Our Generation«, because out of the fragmented reality, you finally see how all the pieces fall into place. For all those who ever wondered why their lives and futures look the way they do – start with this book. Whether you're one of the billions of impoverished outcasts; Or one of the hundreds of millions of hard-working people; Or one of the dozens of millions middle-class' citizens; Or one of the millions of the upper middle-class' privileged; Or one of the hundreds of thousands of the ruling elites; Harvey shows how you got here. If you're one of the billions or the millions, I would suggest that after reading this book you should: A) Read it again B) Read Harvey's latest posts concerning the crisis and the state of Capitalism – http://davidharvey.org/ C) Commence, what might actually become, your Sisyphean task of enlightening the multitude of the blind around you. D) However creative or humble your input may be – strike back – for the benefit of each and every person in the world.
David Harvey had masterfully unmasked the machinations of the world plutocracy in its quest for (further) wealth and domination. Concluding on the basis of hard facts, Harvey shows how certain people and institutions have deliberately introduced a major political and economical shift in the last 30 years, a shift that has brought the world back to the dark ages in terms of human decencies. The book might have actually been titled »A Brief History of Our Generation«, because out of the fragmented reality, you finally see how all the pieces fall into place. For all those who ever wondered why their lives and futures look the way they do – start with this book. Whether you're one of the billions of impoverished outcasts; Or one of the hundreds of millions of hard-working people; Or one of the dozens of millions middle-class' citizens; Or one of the millions of the upper middle-class' privileged; Or one of the hundreds of thousands of the ruling elites; Harvey shows how you got here. If you're one of the billions or the millions, I would suggest that after reading this book you should: A) Read it again B) Read Harvey's latest posts concerning the crisis and the state of Capitalism – http://davidharvey.org/ C) Commence, what might actually become, your Sisyphean task of enlightening the multitude of the blind around you. D) However creative or humble your input may be – strike back – for the benefit of each and every person in the world.
Brief and thorough
David Harvey writes at a high level of abstraction so it helps if the reader has some familiarity with the history, especially economic, of the last 35 years. However, because he also writes very clearly, including offering specific examples of what he's talking about along the way, I think a general reader can get much from this work. His history of neoliberalism offers insights into how this ideology was espoused and followed in different ways in different places. Harvey also provides a useful distinction between neoliberalism and neoconservatism. There are also good explanations of the contradictions within neoliberal theory and dangers inherent as the effects of them are played out. (Some of the ideas are, unfortunately, prophetic of what is going on now – early 2009 – in national and international economies.) David Harvey's work shows how the results of neoliberalism has been the huge increase in income and wealth inequality in country after country. Unlike other writers who notice this trend, Harvey is willing to suggest that this occurance is not incidental or accidental. The accumulation of so much wealth into one class has been the intent of neoliberalism all along.
David Harvey writes at a high level of abstraction so it helps if the reader has some familiarity with the history, especially economic, of the last 35 years. However, because he also writes very clearly, including offering specific examples of what he's talking about along the way, I think a general reader can get much from this work. His history of neoliberalism offers insights into how this ideology was espoused and followed in different ways in different places. Harvey also provides a useful distinction between neoliberalism and neoconservatism. There are also good explanations of the contradictions within neoliberal theory and dangers inherent as the effects of them are played out. (Some of the ideas are, unfortunately, prophetic of what is going on now – early 2009 – in national and international economies.) David Harvey's work shows how the results of neoliberalism has been the huge increase in income and wealth inequality in country after country. Unlike other writers who notice this trend, Harvey is willing to suggest that this occurance is not incidental or accidental. The accumulation of so much wealth into one class has been the intent of neoliberalism all along.
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- BUSINESS & ECONOMICS|Free Enterprise
- Free Enterprise
- History & Theory|General
- Liberalism & centre democratic ideologies
- Political Science
- Political Science & Theory
- Political Science|History & Theory
- Politics & government
- Politics/International Relations
- Politics|Current Events
- Postwar period, 1945 to c 2000
- Public Policy|Economic Policy
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