By the time major states and international financial institutions had embraced the belief that only free markets could secure free people, and that human dignity was intimately tied to a market order that freed individuals from dependence, these had been neoliberal articles of faith for decades. Since the end of World War II, organised neoliberalism had been focused on promoting a world order in which morals and interests would reinforce each other. In human rights standards, they too saw a means to 'depoliticise' international economic relations, protecting the right to trade and securing the space in which individuals and corporations could pursue their interests unhindered.

Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, loc. 450