Violent Geographies Lecture 13: Disaster Capitalism

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from a lecture on disaster capitalism, Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine, and its historical context.

Disaster Capitalism

Profiting from disasters and crises.

The Shock Doctrine (Naomi Klein)

Explores profiting from disasters and crises.

Military-Industrial Complex

War economy, termed ‘defence’.

Disaster Capitalism Complex

Crisis economy, termed ‘emergency’.

Shock Doctrine

Resistance to adverse change is often overcome by extreme trauma; markets are opened not through popular democracy but through war, violence, and terror.

Milton Friedman and the Chicago School

Theoretical underpinnings of neoliberalism.

Economic Shock Therapy

Prioritizing privatization, cutting public services, removing price controls, and deregulating markets through state violence.

1990s in Russia and Eastern Europe

Characterized by ‘all shock, no therapy’—resulting in crony or gangster capitalism.

Disaster Apartheid

A stark divide between privileged recovery areas ('green zones') and devastated regions ('red zones').

Accumulation Through Dispossession

Legalized plunder by converting commons into private property.

Crisis Tendencies

Capitalism's cyclical crises result in destruction—affecting workers and causing de-industrialized landscapes.

Ordinary Capital Accumulation

Capitalism characterized by exploitation and the degradation of value systems.

Ecological Limits

Resource depletion and climate emergencies highlight ecological risks associated with capitalist expansion.

Risk Society

Systems are pushed to catastrophic limits for profit maximization.