In this presentation I shall describe (i) a process of expanding the institutional frameworks of economic and social development that apply on a global scale principles found in the Anglo-American world; (ii) the reinterpretation of these institutional frameworks by ascribing to them a narrow – to a certain extent ideological – meaning which does not reflect the variety of meanings carried by those institutions in the Anglo-American world; and (iii) the undermining of sovereign decision-making by states in order to regulate economies and social systems in a manner that does not pose limitations to the expansion of the institutional framework as described above. This hegemonic programme of ‘globalization’ is at the heart of policies promoted by the United States and such international institutions as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.