The Shock Doctrine

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

Front cover of The Shock Doctrine
Author	Naomi Klein
Language	English
Subject	Economics
Publisher	Knopf Canada (first edition)
Publication date	2007 (2007)
Publication place	Canada
Media type	Print e-book
Pages	662 (first edition)
ISBN	978-0-676-97800-1 (hardcover)
Dewey Decimal	330.12/2
Preceded by	Fences and Windows
Followed by	This Changes Everything

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is a 2007 book by Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein. In the book, Klein argues that neoliberal economic policies promoted by Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics have risen to global prominence because of a deliberate strategy she calls "disaster capitalism". In this strategy, political actors exploit the chaos of natural disasters, wars, and other crises to push through unpopular policies such as deregulation and privatization. This economic "shock therapy" favors corporate interests while disadvantaging and disenfranchising citizens when they are too distracted and overwhelmed to respond or resist effectively. The book challenges the narrative that free market capitalist policies have been welcomed by the inhabitants of regions where they have been implemented, and it argues that several man-made events, including the Iraq War, were intentionally undertaken with the goal of pushing through these unpopular policies in their wake.

Some reviewers claimed the book oversimplifies political phenomena, while others lauded it as a compelling and important work. The book served as the main source of a 2009 documentary feature film with the same title directed by Michael Winterbottom.^[1]