ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the role played by money in the construction of global hegemony. It utilises a theoretical framework grounded in a stylised reading of Fernand Braudel's classic analysis of capitalism between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, which draws our attention to the particular ways in which the world economy is organised around and through overlapping social arenas and subject to different temporal rhythms. The principal argument of the chapter is that many analyses pay inadequate attention to the peculiar fusion of economic, political, social and ideational forces that have powered the US dollar to its current role. A Braudelian framework, focused on what he terms the longue durée, allows us to assess the robustness of these sources of support for the continued role of the dollar as the world's ‘global’ currency, and the kinds of long-term shifts that are required in order to dislodge the dollar from this position. My principal claim is that the US dollar will continue as the world's premiere currency for some time yet, because its longue durée foundations remain remarkably intact.
