by William I. Robinson
PM Press
06/14/2022, paperback
SKU: 9781629639383
Following up on his earlier best-seller, The Global Police State, this exciting new study by critically-acclaimed scholar and activist William I. Robinson offers a big-picture contribution to understanding contemporary global society in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.
It puts forth an original and cutting-edge exposé of the radical transformation of global capitalism now underway, driven by new digital technologies and turbo-charged by the pandemic. It provides shocking data and analysis on the concentration of power and control in the hands of corporate conglomerates, tech giants, mega-banks, and the military-industrial complex. The book documents the extent of unprecedented global inequalities as the mass of humanity faces violent dispossession and uncertain survival. Enabled by digital applications, the ruling groups, unless they are pushed to change course by mass pressure from below, will turn to ratcheting up the global police state to contain the global revolt. If the book issues a dire warning against the emergence of a dystopic digitalized dictatorship it also finds great hope and inspiration in the burgeoning social movements of the poor and the dispossessed as humanity descends into global civil war. While deeply analytical and theoretically sophisticated, the study is written in such a style that it is eminently accessible to a wider public beyond the academy. While the work will satisfy scholars, it is destined to become a companion text to those struggling on the frontlines for global social justice and a more hopeful future.
Reviews:
"William I. Robinson elucidates the terrifying configurations of a new type of global dictatorship, that imposed by transnational capital. By seizing control of national economies and imposing the most sophisticated forms of surveillance in human history these transnational entities are cementing into place a dystopian world that serves the interests of a global elite at the expense of liberty, freedom of expression, democracy and economic security. This is the future, unless we rise up to wrest power back from our corporate overlords." -- Chris Hedges, author of America, The Farewell Tour
"As an axis of rampant capital and wondrous technology grows by the day and liberal democracy sheds its last illusions, William I. Robinson describes a true enemy of humanity that is close to home. And yet nothing is inevitable. Read this urgent book."
-- John Pilger, journalist, writer and documentary filmmaker
About the Author:
William I. Robinson is Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Global Studies, and Latin American Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Among his many award-winning books are: Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity, Into the Tempest: Essays on the New Global Capitalism, and The Global Police State.