09-11-2004, 03:36 AM
Cambridge University economist Hertz asserts that Reagan's and Thatcher's brand of free market capitalism has had dire social and political repercussions, although it has triumphed as the dominant world ideology and brought prosperity to many. She sensibly argues that with government in retreat from its traditional rule-setter role, multinational corporations have grown so powerful 51 of the hundred biggest economies in the world are corporations that they determine political policies rather than operate subject to them. Market success may rule, but Hertz laments that the state, in appearing to serve business, may be nullifying democracy's social contract to represent and protect the rights of all citizens equally. WTO protests and activism reinforce her sense of growing political discontent not only about income distribution effects (97% of the increase in income over the past 20 years in the U.S. has gone to the top 20% of the families) but also about human rights issues. Campaign finance realities, declining voter participation, increasing alienation and terrorism amid glowing corporate results represent an urgent cry for reform to Hertz. Since corporations are not designed and cannot be expected to serve a general population's social and political needs, she argues that democracies need to move toward a realignment between the state's political power and the corporations' economic power so that all people have a positive stake in world economic progress. Hertz maps out a proposed agenda, and her eloquent call to action deserves the attention of every concerned citizen of our troubled world.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
In the new global economy, the rule of government has taken a backseat to the power of big business. Corporations control much of the way we live, from the quality of the food on our plates to the news we consume through the media. According to Hertz, NAFTA and the WTO allow a small group of unelected officials who answer to no one but big multinational corporations to make secret rulings that can override the laws of nations in the name of fair trade. Although it's depressing to read her... read more --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Book Description
Of the world's 100 largest economies, 51 are now corporations, only 49 are nation-states. The sales of General Motors and Ford are greater than the gross domestic product of the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, and Wal-Mart now has a turnover higher than the revenues of most of the states of Eastern Europe. Yet few of us understand fully the growing dominance of big business.
Widely acclaimed economist Noreena Hertz brilliantly reveals how corporations across the world manipulate and pressure governments by means both legal and illegal; how protest is becoming a more effective political weapon than the ballot-box; and how corporations are taking over from the state responsibility for everything from providing technology for schools to healthcare for the community.
The Silent Takeover asks us to recognize the growing contradictions of a world divided between haves and have-nots, of gated communities next to ghettos, of extreme poverty and unbelievable wealth. In the face of these unacceptable extremes, Noreena Hertz outlines a new agenda to revitalize politics and renew democracy.
Dr Hertz is a very articulate lady and her presentation of the issue is far from the biased-bipolar atmosphere that pollute the media in the United States, where the effect of Globalization could be as harsh as in the developing world, if nothing is done to tame the power the supranational entities continue to have over the elected governments. She presents facts supporting corporations as well as their counterbalance, which leave the reader with his/her option to decide accordingly. It's only in the final chapter that she proposes some solutions that should be expected in dealing with such a wide issue. Globalizations should not erase the social responsibility that governments have over the citizenry. And the role of the state is to provide for its citizen a safe and prosperous environment, not to bow down to the desire of the major corporations which benefits from more welfare than individuals and have failed to exercise the trickle-down concepts which the concensus have adopted...this book is a fresh reminder that in the absence of counterbalance the rich will find ways to widen the gap to their advantages and the most extremists among us will find an equal and opposite way to arise the passion of the discontent majority. Since we all have to share this planet we all will bear the social consequences, regarless of our hiding places. She is inspirational
The Silent Takeover : Global Capitalism and the Death of Democracy
by Noreena Hertz
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
In the new global economy, the rule of government has taken a backseat to the power of big business. Corporations control much of the way we live, from the quality of the food on our plates to the news we consume through the media. According to Hertz, NAFTA and the WTO allow a small group of unelected officials who answer to no one but big multinational corporations to make secret rulings that can override the laws of nations in the name of fair trade. Although it's depressing to read her... read more --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Book Description
Of the world's 100 largest economies, 51 are now corporations, only 49 are nation-states. The sales of General Motors and Ford are greater than the gross domestic product of the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, and Wal-Mart now has a turnover higher than the revenues of most of the states of Eastern Europe. Yet few of us understand fully the growing dominance of big business.
Widely acclaimed economist Noreena Hertz brilliantly reveals how corporations across the world manipulate and pressure governments by means both legal and illegal; how protest is becoming a more effective political weapon than the ballot-box; and how corporations are taking over from the state responsibility for everything from providing technology for schools to healthcare for the community.
The Silent Takeover asks us to recognize the growing contradictions of a world divided between haves and have-nots, of gated communities next to ghettos, of extreme poverty and unbelievable wealth. In the face of these unacceptable extremes, Noreena Hertz outlines a new agenda to revitalize politics and renew democracy.
Dr Hertz is a very articulate lady and her presentation of the issue is far from the biased-bipolar atmosphere that pollute the media in the United States, where the effect of Globalization could be as harsh as in the developing world, if nothing is done to tame the power the supranational entities continue to have over the elected governments. She presents facts supporting corporations as well as their counterbalance, which leave the reader with his/her option to decide accordingly. It's only in the final chapter that she proposes some solutions that should be expected in dealing with such a wide issue. Globalizations should not erase the social responsibility that governments have over the citizenry. And the role of the state is to provide for its citizen a safe and prosperous environment, not to bow down to the desire of the major corporations which benefits from more welfare than individuals and have failed to exercise the trickle-down concepts which the concensus have adopted...this book is a fresh reminder that in the absence of counterbalance the rich will find ways to widen the gap to their advantages and the most extremists among us will find an equal and opposite way to arise the passion of the discontent majority. Since we all have to share this planet we all will bear the social consequences, regarless of our hiding places. She is inspirational
The Silent Takeover : Global Capitalism and the Death of Democracy
by Noreena Hertz