THE HIDDEN GLOBE

In describing insidiously interconnected global regimes of inequality and injustice Atossa Abrahamian boldly renews our sense of reality and brilliantly illuminates our political impasse Pankaj Mishra author of The Age of Anger Borders draw one map of the world money draws another A journalist s riveting account exposes a parallel universe exempt from the laws of the land and how the wealthy and powerful benefit from it The map of the globe shows the world we think we know sovereign nations that grant and restrict their citizens rights Beneath above and tucked inside its neatly delineated borders however a parallel universe has been engineered into existence consisting of thousands of extraterritorial zones that operate largely autonomously increasingly for the benefit of the wealthy and powerful Atossa Abrahamian traces the rise of the hidden globe to thirteenth century Switzerland where poor cantons marketed the commodity they had bodies in the form of mercenary fighters Following its evolution around the world she reveals how prize winning economists eccentric theorists visionary statesmen and consultants masterminded its export in the form of free trade zones flags of convenience offshore detention centers where immigrants languish in l