Geopolitics and monetary diplomacy: the global dollar system of taxation and the international economy’s de-dollarization initiatives

Abstract In the international context of intensifying rivalries among great powers, the international monetary system, based on the dollar and globalized in the post-Cold War era, has been questioned and tackled. The aim of this paper is to analyze: the origins and how this system works; the US monetary and financial power, expressed by the US’s huge funding and spending capacity; and the most recent reactions from other countries in order to de-dollarize the international economy. It is concluded that the United States has built a system of global taxation based on the dollar; in addition, some recent initiatives of de-dollarization have attacked the bases of US monetary diplomacy since the Second World War.