The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) began in 1947 and ended in 1994 when it was replaced by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The purpose of GATT was to lower tariffs in every country to encourage trade. Little thought was given to the fact that developed nations had all previously relied on tariffs to achieve a manufacturing base.
The Bandung Conference (in Indonesia) was an early effort to promote non-alignment among former colonies that did not want to join either the Soviet bloc or the anti-communist West. The main purpose was to work toward economic and political sovereignty of the global South and mutual aid among developing nations.
Developing nations, working through the UN Committee on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) demanded a "new international economic order" (the NIEO). The main principles were:
The oil crisis in 1979 led the US to raise interest rates to fight inflation. The combination of higher energy prices and higher interest rates drove many well-managed economies of the Third World into a budgetary crisis. The result was a massive increase in debt in the nations of the South that still hinders their development.
The Reagan and Thatcher administrations in the U.S. and U.K. promote deregulation and privatization at home and similar policies in developing countries through the IMF and World Bank. The countries that most thoroughly embraced this "neoliberal" ideology and adopted the most austere budgets (such as Argentina) sank deeper into poverty.
The World Trade Organization was created. Unlike GATT, which was primarily aimed at lowering tariffs, the WTO has imposed rules involving "non-tariff barriers" such as rules that effectively prevent individual countries from passing laws to protect workers or the environment. The WTO has become a sort of "global government" on behalf of corporate interests, which is almost entirely unaccountable to citizens