Beyond Rhetoric: Why De-Dollarization Fails to Undermine U.S. Monetary Hegemony

This paper examines why global de-dollarization efforts especially by China and the BRICS have failed to significantly undermine the U.S. dollar’s dominance. Using Hegemonic Stability Theory and Soft Balancing, it identifies key instruments such as currency swaps, alternative institutions, and non-dollar payment systems, but shows that structural constraints, China’s capital controls, the Triffin dilemma, and BRICS’s internal asymmetries limit their effectiveness. Without a credible alternative, dollar primacy will likely endure.