Grassroots activism targeting global governance institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and World Trade Organization (WTO) gained momentum in the 1980s and 1990s, driven by concerns over debt crises, structural adjustment programs, and their social and environmental consequences. Movements such as the Jubilee 2000 campaign and the global justice protests at events like the 1999 WTO conference in Seattle brought widespread attention to the democratic deficits and neoliberal agendas of these institutions. These activist networks fostered transnational solidarity, challenging the legitimacy of elite decision-making and advocating for alternative models of development rooted in social justice and sustainability.

How can the strategies and coalition-building tactics of past grassroots movements be adapted to effectively confront today’s global economic and ecological crises? What can the successes and limitations of activism against institutions like the IMF, World Bank and WTO teach about engaging with or resisting contemporary forms of global governance? In what ways can historical critiques of neoliberalism help shape more democratic, inclusive and sustainable approaches to international policymaking today? The third webinar of our Histories and Futures of Global Governance initiative took place on Friday, May 30, from 12:30-2:00pm ET with speakers Paul Adlerstein, Walden Bello, Bhumika Muchhala, and Christy Thornton.

Speakers:

Paul Adlerstein is Associate Professor of History at Colorado College. His teaching focuses on social and political movements as well as 20th-century U.S. history and international political economy. His research explores progressive and left internationalist movements, with a focus on global inequality and anti-neoliberal activism. He is the author of No Globalization Without Representation: U.S. Activists and World Inequality, and he is currently working on a report with Justice Is Global, as well as a new book on the global history of the U.S. left. He serves on the Advisory Board of the History and Political Economy Project, and has worked on global justice issues at the advocacy group Global Trade Watch.

Walden Bello is a sociologist, author, and activist currently serving as International Adjunct Professor at SUNY Binghamton and Senior Research Fellow at Kyoto University. A long-time critic of corporate globalization, he has authored 25 books, including Development Debacle and Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far Right. Bello was a key figure in the international movement against the Marcos dictatorship and later served in the Philippine Congress, where he championed labor and human rights legislation. He co-founded Focus on the Global South, where he is Co-Chair, and has played leading roles in global justice movements, including anti-WTO protests and peace missions to conflict zones. In 2003, he received the Right Livelihood Award for his work promoting alternatives to neoliberal globalization.

Bhumika Muchhala is a senior advisor at the Third World Network and adjunct faculty in global economic & environmental governance at The New School. She has 20 years of experience in global governance and justice, leading advocacy, analysis and movements focused on debt and fiscal justice, systemic reforms, and a just transition for the global South. Her interdisciplinary research is engaged with the politics and mechanisms of international financial subordination through political economy theories from the South. She has a PhD in International Relations from the New School and an MSc in Development Economics from the London School of Economics.

Christy Thornton is the Co-Director of the History & Political Economy Project. She is associate professor of history at New York University. She is the author of Revolution in Development: Mexico and the Governance of the Global Economy (University of California, 2021), and is currently at work on a new research project, “To Reckon with the Riot: Global Economic Governance and Social Protest.”