This new economic environment has, however, also brought about certain disadvantages, such as the large reversals in international capital flows and resulting economic crises in many countries. Towards the end of last year, these crises led to protests against free trade and “global capitalism”. Demonstrations were particularly strong in the City of London and at the World Trade Organisation round of negotiations in Seattle.
More recently the meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington and Prague during April and September 2000 were also the focus of protests against globalisation and the debt burden of some developing countries. Despite these demonstrations, global economic integration today is greater than it has ever been and is likely to become even stronger in the coming years. 2.