The review examines the main provisions of the concept of the modern international monetary system, developed by the famous American economist, specialist in the field of international monetary and financial relations B.J. Cohen. The academic develops the theory of international political economy, which emerged in the 1970s, taking into account today’s political realities and the balance of power between the dominant currencies in the global market. His concept is at the intersection of politics and economics. Currency, in his opinion, is the basis of state sovereignty and a political construct. The positions occupied by national currencies in the global monetary hierarchy determine the scale of the geopolitical ambitions of the issuing states and the degree of their influence in the world. Competition between international currencies such as the US dollar, euro, and renminbi is deeply political and lies at the heart of the global balance of power. The author characterizes the current confrontation between the currencies of two world powers – the US and China – as a unique situation in post-war history. The author’s prediction of the transformation of the geopolitical landscape is based on the concept of the life cycle of currencies, according to which so far not a single currency, no matter how popular it may be, has managed to permanently gain a foothold at the top of the world currency pyramid. In other words, theoretically, sooner or later the US dollar will give up its dominant position to the currencies of other countries, but this may not happen soon. The author considers the most likely prospect to be a multipolar world with a small number of competing poles of power, among which the United States and China will remain “first among equals,” and a multicurrency system consisting of several dominant currencies.
international political economy; international monetary system; international currency; currency statecraft; internationalization of currencies.