Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Disaster Capitalism in the Wake of COVID -19
February 2021
Authors:

Malini Balamayuran
University of Peradeniya


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References (47)

Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted and impacted people's lives profoundly all around the world. The United Nations has urged all governments to embrace a cooperative and human rights-based approach, when adapting measures to cure and curb the worldwide pandemic. A plethora of subsisting commentary presents the view that moments of crisis generally elongate a state of exception for capitalist corporations and businesses to grow and evolve widely. Particularly, the in-depth analysis of 'disaster capitalism' by Naomi Klein presents the view that any crisis situation is manipulated by the largest corporations and businesses to put in place a series of desired free-market policies that may otherwise have taken decades to take effect. This article primarily examines the ways in which the responses to the COVID-19 of the neo-liberal governments favor the capitalist corporations' agenda that were deferred or deprioritized in pre-pandemic times. Based on the primary and secondary sources, it has been found that neo-liberal governments have attempted to manipulate this current global health crisis to serve the way that automatically boosts higher profits for corporations and businesses. Therefore, this study concludes that the current global health pandemic has extended the agents of capitalism another perfect chance albeit at an immense human and environmental cost.


THE EFFECTS OF NATURAL DISASTER CAPITALISM ON INDUSTRY PROFIT 1 

How Could Home Improvement Corporations That Benefit From Natural Disasters Contribute More Sustainable Aid to Coastal Communities Most at Risk From Climate Change? 

Word Count: 4000
 Allende Miglietta 

THE EFFECTS OF NATURAL DISASTER CAPITALISM ON INDUSTRY PROFIT 2
May 2019
Kenwood Academy


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Abstract
With a newer theory of disaster capitalism on the rise, this research examines how home improvement corporations along the United States coast are taking advantage of major natural disasters with increased revenue from sales while raising prices on their goods in people's' greatest time of need. Communities along the coast would be less likely to accept the corporate intrusions under normal circumstances. Instead, this paper argues for home improvement corporations to contribute towards more sustainable aid to coastal communities most at risk from climate change. As greenhouse gases continue to be emitted into the atmosphere, more powerful natural disasters will continue to strike-especially with an increase in global warming. This raises the question: How could home improvement corporations that benefit from natural disasters contribute more sustainable aid to coastal communities most at risk from climate change? There is a gap in analyzing how to push home improvement corporations to contribute more sustainable aid, along with analyzing which communities might not survive rising ocean flooding. Within the topic of natural disaster capitalism, the most common methodology varies depending on the factors of the environment, the economy, and aid. The best approaches would be (1) for beneficiary corporations to minimize their carbon footprint; (2) for beneficiary corporations to come together and agree on ways to provide more sustainable aid to coastal communities most at risk after natural disasters; and (3) for local governments to pass legislation requiring benefiting corporations from disaster capitalism, or those contribute most to global warming, to increase sustainable aid. The aim of this research is to bring equitable and sustainable aid to coastal communities along the United States coast while examining how corporations must play a greater role in slowing or resolving global warming and climate change.



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