Silent Takeover

<p>Of the world's 100 largest economies 51 are now corporations only 49 are nation-states. The sales of General Motors and Ford are greater than the gross domestic product of the whole of sub-Saharan Africa and Wal-Mart now has a turnover higher than the revenues of most of the states of Eastern Europe. Yet few of us understand fully the growing dominance of big business.</p><p>Widely acclaimed economist Noreena Hertz brilliantly reveals how corporations across the world manipulate and pressure governments by means both legal and illegal; how protest is becoming a more effective political weapon than the ballot-box; and how corporations are taking over from the state responsibility for everything from providing technology for schools to healthcare for the community.</p><p><em>The Silent Takeover</em> asks us to recognize the growing contradictions of a world divided between haves and have-nots of gated communities next to ghettos of extreme poverty and unbelievable wealth. In the face of these unacceptable extremes Noreena Hertz outlines a new agenda to revitalize politics and renew democracy.</p>