Same as it ever was? Continuity and change in the international monetary system

For at least a decade, many have argued that the predominance of the dollar as the world's currency will gradually erode, and give way to a more multipolar international monetary order. The four papers in this special issue challenge this conventional wisdom, and hold that the hegemony of the dollar remains irresistible and unchallenged. Looking carefully at available evidence, each paper argues forcefully that the dollar remains predominant, and that expectations of its decline are greatly exaggerated. Nevertheless, although the dollar stands unrivaled at the moment, the pillars of support that have historically sustained its hegemony are eroding. Three warning signs loom especially large: regarding the trajectory of American power and international influence, the role of international politics in shaping the international monetary order, and the outcomes generated by the U.S. political system. Each of these should give pause about the sustainability of unrivaled dollar hegemony indefinitely into the future.