School of Social and Political Science

Description

Join Laleh Khalili for a discussion of her book, ‘Extractive Capitalism: How Commodities and Cronyism Drive the Global Economy.

Laleh reflects on the hidden stories behind late capitalism, from seafarers abandoned on debt-ridden container ships to the nefarious reach of consultancy firms and the cronyism that drives record-breaking profits. Piercing, wry, and constantly revealing, Extractive Capitalism brings vividly to light the dark truths behind the world’s most voracious industries.

Whether it is pumping oil, mining resources, or shipping commodities across oceans, the global economy runs on extraction. Promises of frictionless trade and lucrative speculation are the hallmarks of our era, but the backbone of globalization is still low-cost labour and rapacious corporate control. Extractive capitalism is what made—and what maintains—our unequal world.