Narrator: Imagine a democratically elected government, pursuing policies to uplift its poorest citizens. Suddenly, the presidential palace is bombed, the president is dead, and a brutal military dictatorship takes over. For the next fifteen years, the country is subjected to a radical economic experiment, advised by foreign economists, that dramatically increases inequality and crushes dissent. This isn't a dystopian novel; it's the real story of Chile in 1973. How can a system supposedly built on freedom and open markets be ushered in by such violent, anti-democratic means?

This jarring contradiction lies at the heart of Noam Chomsky's incisive analysis in Neoliberalismus und globale Weltordnung (Neoliberalism and the Global World Order). The book argues that the familiar language of "free markets," "personal responsibility," and "democracy" often serves as a mask for a system designed to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a select few, at the expense of the many.

Narrator: Neoliberalism is presented to the public as a set of liberating principles: free markets encourage competition, private enterprise fosters innovation, and individual responsibility builds strong character. It’s a compelling narrative, reinforced by corporate advertising and political rhetoric, that promises prosperity for all who are willing to work for it. However, Chomsky argues this is a carefully crafted myth.

The reality, as defined in the book, is a political-economic paradigm where a small group of capital owners controls vast areas of social life to maximize their personal profit. This "capitalism without a mask" prioritizes the market over community, leading to staggering inequality, environmental decay, and the erosion of civic institutions. The system thrives in formal democracies where public participation is discouraged, creating a society of atomized individuals rather than engaged citizens. The most striking feature of this paradigm is the near impossibility of having an open, honest discussion about it, as corporate-controlled media and political systems ensure the dominant narrative remains unchallenged.

Narrator: The doctrine of the free market is not applied universally; it comes in two distinct variants. The first is the official doctrine preached to the poor and defenseless: open your markets, cut social spending, and let market discipline run its course. The second is what Chomsky calls the "real existing doctrine of the free market," which can be summarized as: "market discipline is good for you, but not for me."

History shows that today's economic superpowers built their wealth by radically violating the principles they now impose on others. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Great Britain, the champion of free trade, used extreme protectionism and state-sponsored violence to build its industrial might. A prime example is its systematic destruction of India's advanced textile industry. Through high tariffs and force, Britain transformed India from a leading textile exporter into a captive market for British goods, a process that left, in the words of a British official, "the bones of the cotton spinners...whitening the plains of India." Similarly, the United States became the world's wealthiest nation through a century of high tariffs that protected its infant industries from foreign competition, a strategy it now actively discourages in developing nations.

Narrator: How do governments maintain control when their policies are unpopular with the majority? Chomsky points to the concept of "consensus without consent." This is the idea that rulers can act against the public's will if they believe the people will eventually come to approve of their decisions. It’s a paternalistic philosophy that justifies elite rule over the "ignorant" masses.

This principle was chillingly applied during the US occupation of the Philippines in the late 19th century. After a brutal war of conquest that killed hundreds of thousands of Filipinos, the press and intellectuals justified the violence by claiming the US was bringing "happiness" and "freedom" to a "misguided" people. Sociologist Franklin Henry Giddings argued that if the conquered people later accepted American rule, it could be said that the US governed with their consent from the beginning. This logic allows for the manufacturing of consent through force and propaganda, creating a democratic facade that masks an authoritarian core. The same logic is applied domestically, where policies benefiting the wealthy are pushed through despite public opposition, under the assumption that they are for the public's own good.

Narrator: To enforce this global order, powerful nations use international institutions as tools of control. Chomsky argues that organizations like the World Trade Organization (WTO) are not impartial referees but instruments for exporting "American values"—specifically, deregulation and the primacy of corporate interests. The WTO allows powerful states to intervene in the internal affairs of other nations, forcing them to change laws to benefit foreign corporations.

When these institutions fail, direct intervention is the next step. The US has a long history of undermining governments that threaten the interests of its corporate class. In 1954, the CIA orchestrated a coup in Guatemala to overthrow a democratic government whose modest land reforms were seen as a threat to the United Fruit Company and a "virus" that could "infect" other nations with ideas of economic independence. Decades later, the US waged a terror war against Nicaragua's Sandinista government, not because it was a military threat, but because its social programs offered a successful alternative model that could inspire the poor across Latin America. This reveals a consistent policy of prioritizing "stability"—defined as security for the upper classes and foreign capital—over the democratic will of the people.

Narrator: The ultimate outcome of the neoliberal order is a system Chomsky calls "market democracy." In this system, the forms of democracy—elections, parliaments—are maintained, but their substance is hollowed out. The real power lies not with the voters but with the "main architects" of policy: large corporations and financial institutions.

This is starkly illustrated by US policy in Latin America. Thomas Carothers, a former State Department official, observed that the US "crusade for democracy" was designed to install top-down forms of democracy that left the traditional power structures—especially business and military elites—firmly in place. In Haiti, the US restored the democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power in 1994, but only after forcing him to accept a harsh neoliberal economic program that benefited the Haitian elite and foreign investors, while abandoning the platform he was elected on. This ensures that even when the "right" people win elections, the economic system remains untouched and continues to serve the interests of the opulent minority.

Narrator: The single most important takeaway from Neoliberalismus und globale Weltordnung is that the current global system is not failing; it is succeeding in its primary, unstated goal: to protect the minority of the opulent from the majority. The inequality, instability, and democratic deficits we see are not accidental byproducts but the intended results of a system designed to concentrate wealth and power.

Chomsky's analysis challenges us to look beyond the comforting rhetoric of our leaders and institutions. It asks us to question who truly benefits from policies enacted in the name of "freedom" and "growth." The book's most challenging idea is that true freedom is impossible without the economic and social means to exercise it. The path to a more just society, he concludes, requires a realistic assessment of these power structures and a persistent, bottom-up struggle to reclaim democracy from the markets.