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A groundbreaking new examination of global inequality, and how to fix it

About the Author

Jason Hickel is an anthropologist at the London School of Economics and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is originally from Swaziland and spent a number of years living with migrant workers in South Africa, studying patterns of exploitation and political resistance in the wake of apartheid. Alongside his ethnographic work, he writes about global inequality, post-development and ecological economics, contributing regularly to the Guardian, Al Jazeera and other outlets. He serves on the Labour Party task force on international development, works as Policy Director for /The Rules collective, and sits on the Executive Board of Academics Stand Against Poverty. His work has been funded by the Fulbright-Hays Program, the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Charlotte Newcombe Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. He lives in London.

Reviews

There’s no understanding global inequality without understanding its history. In The Divide, Jason Hickel brilliantly lays it out, layer upon layer, until you are left reeling with the outrage of it all.
*Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics*

In this iconoclastic book, Jason Hickel shakes up the prevailing paradigm of "development" at its root. He not only exposes the fatal flaws in the standard model of development but also shows how the "development aid" given to the poor countries in order to promote that erroneous model is vastly outweighed by the resource transferred to the rich countries through an unfair global economic system. Many of the proposals that Hickel makes for institutional reform and intellectual re-framing may sound "mad", as he himself acknowledges, but history has taught us that mad ideas have the habit of becoming respectable over time. This book will radically change the way in which you understand the workings of the global economic system and the challenges faced by poor countries trying to advance within it.
*Ha-Joon Chang, University of Cambridge, author of 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism and Economics: The User's Guide*

This is a book that if our world is to have any chance of meeting the challenges of the 21st century, people need to read. It challenges so much received wisdom via a well-argued, flowing prose that guides you through economic history, international trade, colonialism, politics and power, and the limits to growth debate. In setting out the reality of global inequality and its tangled roots, Hickel, matador-like, destroys the statistical pivots used by official agencies and unpicks their portrayal of an optimistic account of the state of global poverty and inequality.
*Open Democracy*

With passion and panache, Jason Hickel tells a very different story of why poverty exists, what progress is, and who we are. The Divide is myth busting at its best. The West has controlled the rest through colonization, coups, trade and debt. Poor countries are made poor by this; but a dramatic change is coming.
*Danny Dorling, author of Inequality and the 1%*

Hickel masterfully weaves together the most radical currents in political and economic thought to plot the course of global development… I appreciated his ability to translate such a disorienting amount of complex information into a clear, compelling narrative. Hickel is one of the few academics taking responsibilities as a public intellectual seriously, willing to ask difficult questions that challenge and inform our political discourse.
*Bright Green*

Jason Hickel tears apart the destructive myths surrounding global inequality. He shows that colonialism has not disappeared, only changed form. Full of explosive information and devastating argument, The Divide is essential reading.
*Raoul Martinez, author of Creating Freedom*

We all like to think of aid and development as benign in a world full of inequality and violence. Jason Hickel rightly challenges this dangerous myth with a book that crackles with facts, indignation and heart. Why hasn't global poverty and hunger really declined in the last decades? A combination of NGO and government obfuscation, denial and wishful thinking is not helping the world's most vulnerable but marking them as numbers. Journalists, aid workers and anybody who has ever given aid (i.e. nearly everybody) should read this book to understand why we all have a responsibility to better serve our fellow human beings. Hickel should be applauded.
*Antony Loewenstein, author of Disaster Capitalism*

The Divide should be on the curriculum of every undergraduate course in international development and international relations. It explains better than most how poor countries are impoverished by rich country policies.
*Ann Pettifor, author of The Production of Money*

The Divide is an exceptional, necessary and essential book about the processes that produce and perpetuate impoverishment. Jason Hickel provides here not only a devastating critique of ‘development’ and the aid industry, but also one of the best explanations of how it all works. Written in a captivating and easy to read style, this book must become the standard text for everyone studying, working or interested in development.
*Firoze Manji, author of African Awakening: The Emerging Revolutions*

This is a timely book that cuts to the heart of the problem of global inequality. Jason Hickel lays down a challenge to policy makers everywhere which must not be ignored. Poor countries are poor because the system isn’t working. It’s an issue of power and a political problem requiring political solutions – and these solutions must be bold and radical.
*Jonathan Bartley, Co-Leader of the Green Party*