Product Description

A powerful analysis of the deepening instability of global capitalism.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #67251 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Back in the 1980s, capitalism seemed ready to finally inherit the earth. According to the likes of Francis Fukuyama, in his infamous book The End of History, history was coming to an end with the triumph of western capitalism, witnessed by the dramatic collapse of the Soviet Bloc and the growth of the global free market. Subsequent events, from the downfall of Mrs Thatcher to the recent financial unrest in Southeast Asia, have seriously questioned the validity of Fukuyama's arguments (not to mention other luminaries of the New Right). However, John Gray's wonderful False Dawn is the first book to convincingly dismantle the economic and historical presumptions of the 1980s, as we head into political and financial uncharted water.

Writing with great economy and accessibility, Gray's argument is concise but portentous: the unfettered global free market economy will not spawn a self-regulating utopia, but increasing social instability and economic anarchy. With an impressive breadth of economic and social history, False Dawn convincingly argues that "the free market is a rare, short-lived phenomenon", a specific product of English nineteenth-century social engineering, from whose cycles of boom and bust we still have much to learn. Even more provocatively, Gray argues that "democracy and the free market are competitors rather than partners." The failures of the free market, from pre-war Europe to the collapse of the Mexican economy in 1994, have persistently shown that democratic state intervention is required to place checks and balances upon the erratic cycles of boom and bust which has characterised the relatively short history of the free market.

Arguing with great passion and conviction, Gray explores the emergence of the belief in the global free market, via the increasingly discredited philosophy of the European Enlightenment, through the rise and fall of the free market in England from Palmerston to Thatcher. The book then analyses the potentially catastrophic investment in the free market coming out of the USA, the recent "Anarcho-capitalism" of post-communist Russia, and the crisis in the markets of Southeast Asia. Avoiding calls for a return to socialist planning, False Dawn is a refreshing and challenging polemic. Nevertheless, it offers few solutions to what Gray sees as "the deepening international anarchy" as free markets spiral out of control. While False Dawn may expose the shortcomings of contemporary global capitalism, it remains to be seen whether or not its arguments provoke more concrete solutions to the chronic instability of the free market. --Jerry Brotton

Review
'The central message is that we are going to hell in a handcart, as free markets rip up established communities. The idea of a world of liberal democratic and prosperous states on the American model is, he argues, a fantasy...Gray is right' Andrew Marr, Independent 'False Dawn is a powerful analysis of the deepening instability of global capitalism. It should be read by all who are concerned about the future of the world economy' George Soros 'This book is teeming with arguments and ideas...it is hard to put down, and economic liberals would do well to test their ideas against it.' Economist 'We needed a powerful challenge to the simple-minded advocates of globalization. Now we have one. A compelling, important and original book' Will Hutton

About the Author
John Gray is Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics.

Customer Reviews

Capitalisms
Two writers who interest me because of the quality of their writings and the arguments which they put forward are Michael Prowse and John Gray. Both of these men have at one time been associated with what is known as the New Right, a term generally taken to mean, a heterogenous group of academics, intellectuals, scholars, journalists and sundry others who contributed to the resurgence of classical liberal, whig and similar ideas associated with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Both of these authors have since turned away from those ideas and developed their thinking in other directions.

When I began to read this book I was reminded on Hayek's reason for not reviewing Keynes' General Theory: that he did not need to do so as he believed that Keynes would once again change his mind. However, as I proceeded to immerse myself in the material I began to gain some insight into the direction that Gray has gone.

I am sure that there are many who would simply dismiss these ideas as not worthy of serious consideration given that Gray is considered a turncoat in some quarters, and there are some who would merely denounce them from a simplistic neo-liberal point of view but I believe that such attitudes are seriously misguided. As Peter Wynarczyk once pointed out to me, we must all put our theories in the public domain so that they may be tested against competing theories. We can build walls against attack but then what use is a theory which is merely conditional. Gray recognises that many who swear allegiance to the neo-liberal doctrines have not fully thought through the implications of those theories and similarly also recognises the political ramifications of those policies when implemented by politicians and others.

After reading this book I am not coninced that Gray himself is anti-market. He seems to articulate a view of markets which are set within a social context, indeed he postulates competing capitalisms which to my mind is fully compatible within a classical liberal framework.

The target of his attack appears to be what he views as a programme, a political programme, of a world order based on a contemporary American conception of what a free market ought to be. Whereas Gray argues that the emergence of the phenomenon of globalisation is driven by the spread of new technologies as opposed to the breaking down of barriers against open or laissez faire economics, he develops the notion of a particular type of capitalism hell bent on world domination. False Dawn assesses the damage to other capitalisms and the implications thereof, and foresees a time when the general applicability of American capitalism will ultimately lead to it's demise and at a great cost. He believes that this juggernaut cannot be stopped easily due to the damage done to the power of the state through the past twenty or so years of it's extension to the global economy.

False Dawn also places this attempt to global economic domination within a context of the grand ideas of the Enlightenment and argues that as such it is doomed to failure. Gray writes comprehensively, providing examples from different capitalisms to support his theory and cleverly finds common results which support his findings. I found myself in disagreement with the notion that technology is an impetus for globalisation as I believe that the development and spread of technology is the result of an economic process rather than an instigator. Neither was I convinced of the fatality of his work. Even were I convinced of the disasterous consequences of the spread of one particular type of capitalism, I believe that the market process, through the creation of competitive forces will cause other capitalisms to fight for domination. Gray quotes Schumpeter's view on the nature of laissez faire in destroying and rebuilding to mourn the changes within societies but this is a double edged sword. Who is to say what was swept away is not worse than what is built?

Overall I think that this work is excellent and that it deserves serious attention rather than casual dismissal. False Dawn has some important arguements which policy makers, academics and intellectuals would do well to consider. The strength of ideas lies in their capacity to deal with attacks because it is only through those attacks that weakenesses, if not fatal flaws, can be detected. If we are confident in our belief in those ideas we should welcome attacks like Gray's for in the end we will find improvement.

It is the best book of this sort that I have been read.
I'm a Japanese, and studying translation from English to Japanese. I subscribe to Economist for a decade. My teacher is a famous tra slator who has translated "Commanding Heights" into Japanese last year. I think this book is more interesting than that, and want it to be read by more people in Japan. At first I could not undestand by fast reading, so I traslated it. Now I can have the meaning of this book and find it very instructive to Japanese people who believe in the free market and universal globalism. Now we have many miserable stories around us. Japan has scare resources and small lands but we have managed to keep living. So I want this book known to all people in Japan.

Essential reading for any political mind
This brilliant book really appealed to my nihilistic streak, John Grey has the vision, knowledge and most importantly the swagger to carry off a work with such a negative pessimistic outlook. Some may find it depressing, but I found it a clarifying and educating read. It really is essential for anyone contemplating the politics of the 21st century.