ABSTRACT
Recent protests in Seattle, Washington DC, Prague, Turin, and Buenos Aires have deluged meetings of the World Trade Organization (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), and World Bank, as well as the summits of the Group of 8 (G8) industrialized countries and Summit of the Americas. The common theme across all these protests was the protestors’ conviction that these institutions have negative effects in the developing world. Protestors have questioned the motives and criticized the impacts of these institutions on the economies and societies of liberalizing countries. The popular press has reported upon the activities of these institutions extensively. There has been considerable criticism of the austerity measures used by the IMF and World Bank, especially their key tool, structural adjustment agreements, and the harsh human rights consequences of these agreements in developing countries.
