32 Liberalization 1968–2000S

> Why did liberalization emerge as a such a powerful force in the second half of the twentieth century, and what were the consequences of this development? Chapter 32 examines the impact of liberalization in the late twentieth century. In the 1970s two currents ran against each other in much of the world. The radicalism of liberation in decolonization, revolutions, and mass social movements continued. But alongside this current ran a different one whose influence was undeniable by the 1990s: liberalization. After the Second World War, the United States had championed liberal economic policies, but this objective ran against the desires of other countries to protect and promote their own industrialization and economic development. But in the last decades of the century, the U.S. drive for global liberalization of trade experienced greater success, while reform movements in the Eastern bloc and in Latin America pursued human rights and political liberalization.