Money From the Power of Finance to the Sovereignty of the Peoples

What is money, where does it come from, what is its purpose? Does it increase national and international inequalities? Rémy Herrera’s book analyzes how the changes in the capitalist world system have consolidated, over the last decades, the supremacy of the U.S. dollar, but also how this hegemony has recently been challenged, both by rising State resistance initiatives and by the emergence of crypto-currencies, which raises many questions. Reviewing the situation of each continent, this book invites us to debate the liberation from the dollar domination, as well as the future of the euro, that of the CFA and CFP francs, of the Cuban peso or of the Chinese yuan, among others, but also the means to take in hand our collective future by mastering money.

Chapter 1. Rationale for the existence of money: conceptual, historical and institutional elements.- Chapter 2. The monetary hegemony of the United States: power of high finance, reign of the dollar and global chaos.- Chapter 3. Europe, between aporias and impasses: From the straitjacket of the euro to the logic of every man for himself.- Chapter 4. Africa under influence, but struggling: Persistent neo-colonialism, perpetual debt and neo-liberalized pan-Africanism.- Chapter 5. Oceania, often forgotten, but so revealing: Archaism of traditional societies of the periphery... or forms of monetary domination by the center?.- Chapter 6. Latin America and the Caribbean on the road to its second independence: Monetary lessons from a region in rebellion.- Chapter 7. Asia’s quest for a better future for itself (and for the world): From the “Asian crisis” to the control of the currency.- Chapter 8. The march towards currencies at the service of the peoples: Systemic crisis and currency warsor alternatives of sovereignty in a multipolar world?.- Conclusion.- Indicative bibliography.- Appendices.- Glossary.- Index.

Rémy Herrera is a French economist, researcher at the CNRS (Centre national de la Recherche scientifique, National Center of Scientific Research). He has worked in financial auditing and in international institutions, including the OECD and the World Bank. He is the author of numerous books and scientific articles on economics, and teaches in several universities, especially at the Centre d’Économie de la Sorbonne. He regularly collaborates with the CETIM (Center Europe Third World), notably by supporting it in its advisory role with the United Nations.