Crack-Up Capitalism
Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
'Gonzo brilliance ... unique and highly entertaining' Financial Times
'Revelatory reading' Adam Tooze, author of Crashed
'After reading Quinn Slobodian's new book, you are not likely to think about capitalism the same way' Jacobin
Look at a map of the world and you'll see a neat patchwork of nation-states. But this is not where power actually resides. From the 1990s onwards, globalization has shattered the map, leading to an explosion of new legal entities: tax havens, free ports, city-states, gated enclaves and special economic zones. These new spaces are freed from ordinary forms of regulation, taxation and mutual obligation - and with them, ultracapitalists believe that it is possible to escape the bonds of democratic government and oversight altogether.
Historian Quinn Slobodian follows the most notorious radical libertarians - from Milton Friedman to Peter Thiel - around the globe as they search for the perfect home for their free market fantasy. The hunt leads from Hong Kong in the 1970s to South Africa in the late days of apartheid, from the neo-Confederate South to the medieval City of London, and finally into the world's oceans and war zones, charting the relentless quest for a blank slate where capitalism and democracy can be finally uncoupled.
Crack-Up Capitalism is a propulsive history of the recent past, and an alarming view of our near future.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The world's special economic zones embody a right-wing dream of free markets seceding from governments and voters, according to this penetrating treatise. Wellesley history professor Slobodian (Globalists) surveys subnational jurisdictions with exceptionally business-friendly policies like low taxes, weak regulations, lax labor laws, and openness to foreign investment. They include Hong Kong, the hyper-capitalist enclave that inspired the special economic zones that transformed China; London's Canary Wharf real estate project, with its subsidized skyscrapers; the principality of Liechtenstein, the world's quaintest tax haven; and the pseudo-independent South African Bantustan of Ciskei, which posed as a decentralized export center but relied on South African subsidies and the violent repression of labor activists by South African security forces. The author also spotlights libertarian settlement proposals that never materialized, including venture capitalist Balaji Srinivasan's scheme of "cloud cities" populated by shareholders, which Slobodian calls "a world of terms and conditions instead of rights and responsibilities." Throughout, Slobodian delivers harsh critiques of economist Milton Friedman, Silicon Valley anarcho-capitalists, and other theorists who envision, he argues, a world of fragmented micro-polities run by corporations and private contracts rather than democratic governments with the power to tax, spend, and regulate. Elegantly written and incisively argued, it's a convincing takedown of neoliberalism run amok.
Customer Reviews
Autonomy domine
The author is a Canadian historian (of Ukrainian background I presume, based on the surname). He is currently Marion Butler McLean Professor of the History of Ideas at Wellesley College. His previous publications include works about globalism, neoliberalism, and German history.
Prof Slobodian’s thesis is that very rich libertarians believe democracy gives the inferior underclass a way to steal money from the superior rich through taxation. Thanks to globalisation, power no longer resides in the 200+ nation-states in the world. Instead, it resides in the various free ports, tax havens, and special economic zones (SEZs) where “ultracapitalists” go to escape government (democratic or otherwise) oversight. At least I think that’s what his thesis is.
To make his case, he take readers to Hong Kong in the 1970s (a Milton Friedman favourite), Singapore (another Friedman fave back in the day), South Africa in the late days of apartheid (ditto), Liechtenstein of course, the “neo-Confederate” South of the US (with its parallels to the frontier of the old American West), the medieval City of London, and ultimately to oceans and war zones of today.
The history of SEZs was fascinating, the author’s thesis frightening, and chillingly plausible.