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Toward the end of the Second World War, in July 1944, representatives of the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, and 40 other countries met at Bretton Woods, a resort in New Hampshire, to lay the foundation for the post-war international financial order. This new system, they hoped, would prevent another worldwide economic cataclysm like the Great Depression that had destabilized Europe and the United States in the 1930s and had also contributed to the rise of Fascism and the Second World War.

Therefore, the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, as the Bretton Woods conference was officially called, created the International Monetary Fund (the IMF) and the World Bank to prevent economic crises and to rebuild economies shattered by the war by promoting international monetary cooperation, fostering economic growth and employment; and providing temporary financial assistance to countries.

Although intended to benefit the global economy and contribute to world peace, the World Bank and the IMF, become primary targets in the anti-globalization movement.