The United States dollar has been central to the global financial system for decades. But what if that changes? We explore the history of dollar dominance from post-World War I to present-day challenges, and how the Bretton Woods system, the Nixon shock, and geopolitical forces shaped the global currency landscape. We review the benefits and costs of dollar hegemony for the U.S. and the rest of the world, as well as the internal and external threats facing the dollar system. Will the dollar maintain its supremacy, or will we see a new multipolar currency order? The answers are unfolding now.
Carla Norrlöf is Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. She serves on the editorial boards of International Studies Review, International Studies Quarterly, and International Theory. Her research examines theories of international relations and international political economy with a special focus on great powers, particularly US hegemony in money, trade, and security. She has testified twice before the U.S. Congress.
Norrlöf’s work is published by Cambridge University Press, MIT Press, and Oxford University Press, and appears in journals such as Canadian Journal of Political Science, Conflict Management and Peace Science, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Cooperation and Conflict, International Affairs, International Political Science Review, International Security, Review of International Political Economy, and Security Studies.
Her opinion pieces have appeared in Foreign Affairs, The Globe and Mail, The Guardian, The Kyiv Independent, The Japan Times, Le Monde, Newsweek and The Washington Post. She is a regular columnist for Project Syndicate, a Senior Advisor to the Helsinki Geoeconomics Society and a former senior fellow with the Atlantic Council.