(POLICY) an extreme form of capitalism created in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. In some cases, as in Chile (1973), the disaster is a coup d'etat with the express purpose of imposing disaster capitalism. In other cases, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, it is a genuine
natural disaster that literally kills.
After some disasters, the authorities in some countries may well respond by imposing "reforms" that would have been impossible before. These include: (1) privatization of
public property, making it unavailable to the indigenous people; (2) arbitrary elimination of laws ("deregulation"); and (3) slashing democratically chosen programs that help ordinary citizens ("austerity programs").
The concept was popularized in Naomi Klein's excellent 2007 book, *
The Shock Doctrine*.
"Disaster
capitalism" is neoliberalism imposed undemocratically. It exploits
natural disasters, civil wars, foreign invasions, coups d'etat, terrorism, or explicit deception. It always seeks to make its changes irreversible.
Naomi Klein mostly blames the
International Monetary Fund, but there are other culprits as well.