Building Power against Dollar Dominance

​The role of the US dollar in locking countries in the Global South into debt dependency, constraining climate action, driving extraction, and limiting democracy across the world is still understood by far too few in the Global North. But shifts in the global currency order are opening up opportunities for change. As fluctuating geopolitics make the future of the US dollar uncertain, dollar dominance is clearly an important barrier to building a more just world, but it’s rarely prioritised as an issue in the Global North, even by economy focused CSOs. 

Over the past few years, Positive Money has been conducting research and building awareness about the issue of US dollar supremacy in the international monetary system, and asked Future Narratives Lab to explore ways to start pushing it up the agenda in the Global North. 

To understand best how to build engagement with the issue of dollar dominance, we first needed to understand the current landscape of discourse and beliefs around the future of currency politics, and the opportunities & challenges this presented for our agenda. 

To this end, we undertook a process of defining and visualizing the main perspectives and beliefs at play, as the basis for collective strategy development, through the following broad steps:

1. Identifying the Appropriate Mapping Level 
2. Interviews and Desk Research
3. Analysis & Narrative Mapping
4. Interrogate & Improve

The first round of this process identified 4 key narrative themes shown in the graphic below.

On 29 January, we held an in-person workshop at the New Economics Foundation office in London, we presented our narrative findings to 32 Civil Society organisation leaders, campaigners, experts, and stakeholders, with goals of: 

• Exploring the narrative landscape around the issue of Dollar Dominance and what barriers and opportunities it reveals for efforts to build power for change
• Analysing why Global North organisations might fail to connect with this issue and how this might be overcome
• Developing ideas & strategies for building power to challenge the dollar-based system, and how Global North orgs can support & amplify Global South–led efforts for reform

Through expert speakers, interactive small-group discussions, and dedicated time for feedback and strategy sessions, we came out of the day with concrete ideas and insights to guide next steps. We also included an online component to the workshop where Global South stakeholders could engage and play an active role in shaping narrative strategy around this issue, ensuring that those most affected by dollar dominance inform our recommendations. 

The workshop featured leading experts in global currency politics, including: 

• Fadhel Kaboub, Associate Professor of Economics at Denison University & President of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity
• Brett Scott, Campaigner and journalist, author of Cloud Money and the newsletter Altered States of Monetary Consciousness
• Grace Blakely, Economics and political commentator, journalist, staff writer at Tribune Magazine & author of ‘Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts and the Death of Freedom’ (2024)

A synthesis of workshop findings with an outline of discussions, next steps, and an updated Narrative Map. Key themes & opportunities include:

• Language shifts
• Fracturing of US dependency
• Economics education
• Existing allies
• Supporting Global South efforts

A practical toolkit for spokespeople, campaigners, think tanks, charities, and trade unions, providing: 

• Key messaging principles
• Effective entry points for different audiences
• Clear do’s and don’ts
• Narrative map of the current landscape
• Key resources to learn more

In July 2026, we held an online discussion to launch both the Messaging Guide and Briefing Paper, with leading economic anthropologists sharing key analysis from the narrative mapping and insights into the influence of geopolitical developments on global wealth inequality, such as the impact of cryptocurrencies and bitcoin.

Expert Speakers included:

• Brett Scott, Campaigner and journalist, author of Cloud Money and the newsletter Altered States of Monetary Consciousness
• Julio Linares, Economic anthropologist and author of Decolonizing Money
• Hannah Dewhirst, Head of Campaigns and Communications at Positive Money
• Daniel Stanley, Executive Director, Future Narratives Lab

If you’re interested in watching the event recording and/or receiving copies of the Messaging Guide and Briefing Paper you can request them by filling in the form opposite.