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[...] Major decisions require 85 per cent of the vote. Not incidentally, the United States holds about 16 per cent of the shares in both institutions, and therefore wields de facto veto power. The next largest shareholders are France, Germany, Japan and the UK--all members of the G7. Middle- and lo…

[...] First, developing countries had to redirect all their existing cash flows and assets towards debt service. They had to cut spending on public services like healthcare and education and on subsidies for things like farming, food and infant industries; they also had to privatise public assets b…

[...] in 1981, when US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker jacked interest rates up as high as 21 per cent. Poor countries found that they simply could not repay their loans at such high rates. In 1982, Mexico took the inevitable step and defaulted on part of its $80 billion debt. This move spurr…

[...] OPEC states suddenly found themselves awash with excess cash worth more than $450 billion. The only problem was that they didn't know what to do with all that money. Because there was nowhere to invest it internally, Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations decided to circulate or 'recycle' the mo…

In short, the fight against poverty and underdevelopment during this period was understood as a political battle. It sought to challenge the prevailing distribution of power and resources around the world.