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ber of military conflicts involving at least one

and 60 percent of the population is discarded

state declined from almost 50 in 1990 to 31 in

or becomes a permanent underclass in coun-

tries that liberalize their economies.88 She does-

2005. The number of war deaths in 2005 was

the lowest in half a century. In 1990 there were

n't explain what she means by those figures,

nine ongoing genocides around the world. In

and she doesn't say where they come from.

2005, there was only one, in Darfur. Despite a

There is no footnote and no source.

few conspicuous exceptions, the world is

A look at the EFW data shows that Klein

becoming more peaceful in the era of "savage"

has it backwards. Poverty and unemployment

capitalism.94

are lowest in countries with the most econom-

ic freedom. In the freest fifth of countries,

The world has also become more democra-

poverty according to the United Nations is

tic, contrary to the implications of Klein's the-

15.7 percent, and in the rest of the world it is

sis. In fact, while markets have been opened,

29.8 percent. Unemployment in the freest

the world has simultaneously undergone a

quintile is 5.2 percent, which is less than half

democratic revolution. Between 1990 and

of what it is in the rest of the world. In the least

2007 the number of electoral democracies

economically free quintile, filled with the

increased from 76 to 121. In 1990 there were

kinds of restrictions on private property, busi-

more countries defined as "not free" by

It is probably

nesses, and trade that Klein claims are ways of

Freedom House than were ranked as "free." In

not a coincidence

helping the people against the powerful,

2007 there were twice as many "free" countries

as there were "not free" countries.95

poverty is 37.4 percent and unemployment is

that there are

13 percent.89

So in the absence of serious arguments

blurbs from four

Klein writes that global capitalism has

against the consequences of free markets, we

fiction writers on

lapsed into "its most savage form" since

are left with Klein's reasonable critique of tor-

1990.90 If she is right about the connection

ture, dictatorships, government corruption,

the back of the

and corporate welfare. In the final analysis, The

between free markets and deprivation, poverty

book.

Shock Doctrine boils down to the curious claim

should have increased at a dramatic speed

since then. The opposite has happened.

that Milton Friedman and free markets are

Between 1990 and 2004, extreme poverty in

bad because governments are incompetent,

developing countries was reduced from 29 to

corrupt, and cruel. It is probably not a coinci-

18 percent, according to the World Bank. This

dence that there are blurbs from four fiction

means that extreme poverty has been reduced

writers on the back of the book.

by 54,000 people every day under "savage" cap-

italism.91 And the proportion of people in

Notes

slums, which is another result of liberalization

according to Klein, has been reduced from 47

1. John Gray, "The End of the World as We Know

to 37 percent during the same time.92 Averages

It," review of The Shock Doctrine, by Naomi Klein,

The Guardian, September 15, 2007, http://books.

don't tell the whole story, so it's important to

guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2169201,00.html.

point out that the biggest improvements took

place in the parts of the world that liberalized

2. Joseph Stiglitz, "Bleakonomics," review of The

the most, whereas there have been setbacks in

Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, New York Times,

September 30, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/

less liberalized countries.

2007/09/30/books/review/Stiglitz-t.html.

If Klein is right about the connection

between free markets and political violence, we

3. Quoted in Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine: The

should also have seen more war and dictator-

Rise of Disaster Capitalism (London: Allen Lane,

2007), p. 6.

ships in the era of "savage" capitalism. Klein

insists that "the world is becoming less peace-

4. See http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine

ful" without documenting it.93 She is wrong.

/short-film.

According to the Human Security Centre at

5. Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (Chi-

the University of British Columbia, the num-

15