“We are witnessing a global system that operates primarily to protect the rights of capital rather than the rights of citizens. The international financial institutions and trade agreements of the late twentieth century have consistently subordinated local agricultural systems, environmental protections, and labor standards to the demands of transnational corporations. By imposing structural adjustment programs and deregulation on developing nations, these bodies have widened the gap between the wealthy and the poor, dismantling the economic sovereignty of local communities in the name of free trade. We must reclaim our local economies, protect our environments, and demand democratic control over our resources.”
—Manifesto of the International Coalition for Economic Justice, 1999
The arguments expressed in the passage are best understood as a reaction to which of the following late-twentieth-century developments?
- The global spread of neoliberal economic policies and free-trade agreementsAnswer
- BThe expansion of direct territorial administration and colonial rule by Western empires
- CThe implementation of mercantilist trade systems designed to accumulate state bullion reserves
- DThe total homogenization of global cultural practices and consumer habits