Structural adjustment fundamentally reshaped the economies of the South. Governments were forced to abandon their focus on human welfare and economic independence and focus instead on creating the best possible conditions for capital accumulation. This was done in the name of growth, but the consequences for the South were disastrous. The imposition of neoliberal policies caused two decades of crisis, with rising poverty, inequality and unemployment. Income growth rates across the South collapsed during the 1980s and 1990s, down to an average of 0.7% over this two-decade period.8 But as far as
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