When Unification Creates Hierarchies or, The Deadly Life of Currency Unions

The picture of holding the same money in our hands across borders has time and again served as a symbol of unity, while its divisive potential often disappears behind a veil of hope. Real monetary solidarity—the necessary flip side of Pan-African trade and development—requires more than a simplistic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Law and Political Economy
Main Author: Carla Coburger
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of California, Berkeley 2023-12-01
Subjects:
Online Access:http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0fh129hz
Description
Summary:The picture of holding the same money in our hands across borders has time and again served as a symbol of unity, while its divisive potential often disappears behind a veil of hope. Real monetary solidarity—the necessary flip side of Pan-African trade and development—requires more than a simplistic plaster of neoliberal currency unions. The time is now to counter the US dollar dominance, and discussions of South-South monetary solidarity are many—from the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), the West African eco, the East African Monetary Union (EAMU), to a potential sur in Latin America and a move away from the petrodollar system. This contribution outlines a continuum of monetary unification systems and stresses the fundamental nature of political commitment to solidarity across monetary, productive, social, and political frontiers in order to achieve monetary unification as a stepping-stone to Pan-African unity.
ISSN:2693-9681