In addition, global inequalities mean that actions and omissions by the more powerful States will have adverse repercussions on the capacities of smaller and less powerful States to meet their human rights obligations. The fiscal deficits that resulted from the crisis have led both developed and developing countries to cut back on public social expenditure, which is threatening to increase poverty and gender inequality.74 There is a need therefore for a set of principles on extra-territorial obligations that provides standards to make governments, international financial institutions, intergovernmental organizations and transnational corporations accountable for actions that affect the realization of rights across the world. This issue is discussed in more detail in Chapter 4. But how can these principles be made real so that they define state action on the ground? Some would argue that there is a paradox here: States, which are seen as the main duty-bearers and guarantors of rights, may have neither the capacity nor the political will to protect and promote rights.