Jonathan Kirshner

Currency and Coercion: The Political Economy of International Monetary Power.

This text examines how states can, and have, used international currency relationships and arrangements as instruments of coercive power for the advancement of state security. The book lays the groundwork for what the author calls monetary power by providing a taxonomy of the possible forms that such power can take in principle and of the conditions under which it can have effect. It then establishes the actual existence of monetary power by showing how the taxonomy is supported by the historical record, including cases from nations from all over the globe and through-out the 20th century. Finally, it shows how the monetary power is affected by different monetary regimes, the sources of its success and failure, and the factors that lead states to turn to its use.