A landmark history of the world economic order exploring how developing countries have fought
to escape impoverishment Over the past two decades experiments in neoliberal economics
have opened up a chasm of inequality between the Global South and the West. Development advice
from richer nations has led to social upheaval political unrest environmental degradation—and
even the creation of a new underclass. Brutal extremes of wealth and poverty are now
commonplace. Ali A. Allawi traces the evolution of the world economic order from the late
imperial era to the present day. Shedding light on continuing controversies Allawi shows how
the process of development has been hindered at every turn from poor leadership and lost
opportunities to widespread corruption. In doing so he argues that the current neoliberal
consensus is only the most recent of a series of failed policy imperatives. Covering issues
in the Global South as well as failures in the West this definitive account offers an
impassioned and authoritative call for change.
