As European empires crumbled in the 20th century, the power structures that had dominated the world for centuries were up for renegotiation. Yet instead of a rebirth for democracy, what emerged was a silent coup – namely, the unstoppable rise of global corporate power.
Exposing the origins of this epic power grab as well as its present-day consequences, Silent Coup is the result of two investigative journalist's reports from 30 countries around the world. It provides an explosive guide to the rise of a corporate empire that now dictates how resources are allocated, how territories are governed, and how justice is defined.
Author(s): Claire Provost, Matt Kennard
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 293
City: London
Cover
Contents
Biographies
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The meeting
Part One Corporate justice
1 Democracy on trial
An unexpected phone call
Pacific Rim vs El Salvador
Dreams delayed
Independence day
2 Corporate courts
Out of control
Into the archives
El No de Tokyo
Follow the money
3 Secret insurance
Foresti vs South Africa
Marikana tombstones
The whole story
No angels here
4 Capitalist Magna Carta
San Francisco, 1957
A celebrity banker
More than just talk
New rules for the world
5 The boomerang
Vattenfall vs Germany
Totally absurd
Fed up in Hamburg
Coming home to roost
Part Two Corporate welfare
6 Aid-funded business
An unusual festival
The reality of aid
Margaret and Mahathir
One empire to another
7 Financing ‘development’
Investing in empire
Billionaire beneficiaries
Washington follows London
The Queen’s diamond
8 Buying power
No candles in Zanzibar
A new alliance for Africa
Your charity’s c-suite
We’re all partners now
9 Aiding elites
Corporate colonialists
Helping the 1 per cent
Welcome to the Shangri-La
Europe’s Walmart
10 A new continent
Silent partners
Post-Soviet profits
Avocados and plastic surgery
We would have voted no
Part Three Corporate utopias
11 Fences up
Building control
Displaced in Myanmar
Frontier profits
Winners and losers
12 Irish invention
Bash on regardless
The middle of the world
Symbolic Shannon
Bad jobs
13 Rights suspended
Five days in Shenzhen
Sweatshop city
Union-free dreams
Cracks in Cambodia
14 Private cities
A CEO for your city
Clean air for sale
Private futures worldwide
Carving out London too
15 Finance is king
A fiscal paradise
Island of inequality
Mauritius mailboxes
Malawi mangoes
Part Four Corporate armies
16 Peace without democracy
A world government
Long-range plans
A monstrous blueprint
Dictatorship of flies
17 Profits versus peasants
Nightmares in Colombia
Challenging impunity
More hired guns
A militia in Honduras
18 Private borders
Occupation Inc in Palestine
Battle-tested products
Privatising Fortress Europe
Business behind bars
19 Private protection
Follow the weapons
Cattle in a camp
Informal imperialism
The new nanny
20 Lucrative threats
Secret city
Privatising Los Alamos
GOCO
Collateral damage
Epilogue: Ugly truths
Notes
Index
