The Hidden Globe by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian traces the rise of a hidden world of special economic zones, free trade zones, flags of convenience, offshore detention centers, and charter cities controlled by foreign corporations. This countergeography, which dates back to thirteenth-century Switzerland, has evolved to include even outer space. Abrahamian's work reveals how these zones, often termed 'legal fictions,' blur national and economic boundaries, increasing global inequalities and favoring the 1 percent. The book is a well-researched, engrossing exploration of how privilege protects itself through complex mechanisms involving finance, law, and technology.
In this book, journalist Atossa Araxia Abrahamian delves into the thriving business of buying and selling citizenship, particularly after the 2008 financial crisis. She follows the money trail to the Middle East, where island nations like the Comoros, St. Kitts, and Antigua sell citizenship to stateless minorities from oil-rich countries like the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. The book examines the concept of citizenship in a globalizing world, introducing readers to various 'cosmopolites' who inhabit a new, borderless realm. It raises questions about the future of nation-state citizenship and the moral and practical implications of a world where citizenship is increasingly a commodity.
Atossa Araxia Abrahamian is a journalist and author who writes about the cracks in the nation-state system. A former editor at the Nation and Al Jazeera America, Abrahamian’s reporting and criticism have appeared in the New York Review of Books, the New York Times, the London Review of Books, the Intercept, and many other publications.
In her new book, The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World, Abrahamian maps the hidden geography of the wealthy elite, exposing a parallel universe that transcends national borders, bureaucracy and red tape. From the legal twilight zones of Geneva art warehouses to passports for sale, this is a geography of wealth in the modern age.
Joining her to discuss the book is Adam McCauley, the politics and philosophy writer and researcher.
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