IMF Part 1: Research Proposal

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The purpose of this paper is to outline the initial details of a research project, focused on the neo-liberal policies outlined in Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine (2008) as Chicago School disaster capitalism, specifically as exemplified by occurrences in Latin America during the 1970s. Briefly, Klein posits that disaster capitalism, then during its infancy, saw a small group of powerful elites imposing unpopular economic reforms (namely deregulation, privatization, and government cutbacks) during times of crisis (such as armed conflict, political coups, or during violent oppression by military juntas) for the benefit of transnational corporations (TNCs). This issue has been chosen because of its close ties with globalization, outlined below, and the often devastating impact these policies have had on both national economies and cultures, as well as the heightening effect on the global North/South divide. This is important to explore both for the sake of those victimized by the policies of a few, but also to underline the need for global governance, finance, and other institutions to include rigorous democratic checks and balances on abuses of power, conditions which are at present glaringly absent.
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