The Debt System: A History of Sovereign Debts and Their Repudiation
This compelling, provocative, and accessible volume offers a rejoinder to the prevailing wisdom that views debt as holy writ.
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Éric Toussaint, Senior Lecturer at the University of Liège, is president of Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debts, Belgium. He is the author of "Debt, the IMF, and the World Bank, Sixty Questions, Sixty Answers.".
"Since 2008 CADTM has campaigned for "a new doctrine of illegitimate, illegal, odious, and unsustainable debt" cancellation. This doctrine includes considerations of whether the debtor state is democratic, whether it respects human rights, whether the debt is incurred within the framework of "structural adjustments" (enforced austerity), and includes all debts incurred to pay back previous odious debts. On grounds of global social justice, The Debt System makes a strong case for this new doctrine." --Against the Current
"This work has much to commend it; it provides detailed analyses of the impact of indebtedness in several nations and a compelling explanation of the deep-seated mechanisms at work in the international credit system - a system which is designed to enhance the opportunity for exploitation of nations outside powerful capitalist sates. The author shows that, contrary to orthodox arguments, debt repudiation can be both justified and successfully carried out. I recommend the book wholeheartedly." --Counterfire
