Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain [Paperback]

George Monbiot (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0330369431 | ISBN-13: 978-0330369435 | Publication Date: December 2001

A devastating indictment of the corruption at the heart of the British State by one of our most popular media figures.George Monbiot made his name exposing the corruption of foreign governments; now he turns his keen eye on Britain. In the most explosive book on British politics of the new decade, Monbiot uncovers what many have suspected but few have been able to prove: that corporations have become so powerful they now threaten the foundations of democratic government.Many of the stories George Monbiot recounts have never been told before, and they could scarcely be more embarrassing to a government that claims to act on behalf of all of us. Some are - or should be - resigning matters. Effectively, the British government has collaborated in its own redundancy, by ceding power to international bodies controlled by corporations. CAPTIVE STATE highlights the long term threat to our society and ultimately shows us ways in which we can hope to withstand the might of big business.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

George Monbiot has been named by the Evening Standard as one of the twenty-five most influential people in Britain and by the Independent on Sunday as one of the forty international prophets of the twenty-first century. He is the author of the investigative travel books, Poisoned Arrows, Amazon Watershed and No Man's Land. He writes a column for the Guardian and is Honorary Professor at the Department of Philosophy, University of Keele, and Visiting Professor at the Department of Environmental Science, University of East London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 430 pages
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan (December 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0330369431
• ISBN-13: 978-0330369435
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 1.2 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #941,405 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone in every country should read this book, July 30, 2004

By 

spinningplate - See all my reviews

This review is from: Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain (Paperback)

This book is a reminder of the real working of the political system, and how it interacts with big business and the public, and who's really in control. Whether it's England, Canada or the US, the picture is essentially the same. If you're puzzled by political decision or frustrated by your failing cause, this fabulous book may have the answers. It is depressing to know of the amount of duplicity, misrepresentation, and downright lying that my country is currently founded on.

I would recommend 'Dogs and Demons' for a similar look at a completely different political system, Japan's.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars State held captive by neoliberal economic policies, June 18, 2009

By 

D. V. Short "Enzo Short" (Orkney, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain (Paperback)

This book describes the corporate takeover of Britain. Another, by Paul Hellyer, called "Stop, Think" (ISBN: 0969439466) describes the corporate takeover of the world. Both books could be subsumed under the subject matter of Neoliberalism, which is explained most excellently by David Harvey in his book "A Brief History of Neoliberalism" (ISBN: 0199283273). Harvey explains the causations of the doctrine and its development in the last century, and its relevance (and more) to the current century. All three books show corporate (financial, commercial and industrial) greed reflected in history on a grand scale. Having not been stopped, the new world order has increasingly become one of domination by the power of greed.

Economics & politics ("Ecopolinomics") are intertwined and inseparable, for humans are no different from other creatures in their quest to survive, even at the expense of their fellow creatures, whether inadvertently or wilfully. Which is why the understanding of economics & politics must be understood together, both historically and currently.

What these books show is very much related to the laissez-faire theory of the Scottish economist Adam Smith (1723 - 1790), which was the belief that if mankind were given the freedom to act out of self-interest (selfishness?) and pursue maximum personal gain, the consequences would be "most agreeable to the interests of the whole of society" (This is something of an irony, one could say)

The economist John Maynard Keynes (1883 - 1946) once said: "The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else".

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