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Table of Contents
About The Book
Of the world's 100 largest economies, fifty-one are now corporations, only forty-nine are nation-states. The sales of General Motors and Ford are greater than the GDP (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 are fully aware of the growing dominance of big business: newspapers continue to place news of the actions of governments on the front page, with business news relegated to the inside pages. But do governments really have more influence over our lives than businesses? Do the parties for which we vote have any real freedom of choice in their actions?
Already sparking intense debate in England and on the Continent, The Silent Takeover provides a new and startling take on the way we live now and who really governs us. The widely acclaimed young socio-economist Noreena Hertz brilliantly and passionately reveals how corporations across the world manipulate and pressure governments by means both legal and illegal; how protest, be it in the form of the protesters of Seattle and Genoa or the boycotting of genetically altered foods, is often becoming a more effective political weapon than the ballot-box; and how corporations in many parts of the world are taking over from the state responsibility for everything from providing technology for schools to healthcare for the community.
While the activities of business, frequently under pressure from the media and the consuming public, can range from the beneficial to the pernicious, neither public protest nor corporate power is in any way democratic. What is the fate of democracy in the world of the silent takeover?
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 riches. In the face of these unacceptable extremes, Noreena Hertz outlines a new agenda to revitalize politics and renew democracy.
Product Details
- Publisher: Free Press (June 28, 2002)
- Length: 256 pages
- ISBN13: 9780743241892
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Raves and Reviews
The Evening Standard Dr. Hertz has taken the debate into new territory, which is why her book stands out from the crowd...She offers a more intriguing analysis of modern corporate methods than critics normally supply.
Financial Times The Silent Takeover raises issues that business and politicians would be unwise to ignore.
The Sunday Times Well written and colorful...Essential reading if you want to understand why your university-going child or niece is hissing at you across the Christmas dinner.
The Guardian Noreena Hertz's incisive new book, The Silent Takeover, lays bare the coup big business has staged against democracy.
Sunday Herald The Silent Takeover is an important book.
The Observer Noreena Hertz is one of the world's leading young thinkers.
The Times Higher Education Supplement Hertz is writing in a more swashbuckling tradition of political economy than the dry as dust tomes that serve the needs of Economics 101 students...The passionate and committed style will ensure the appeal of the book to a wide range of readers.
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