Russia’s war in Ukraine has devastated large swathes of the country and attacked the international order, but as political risk analyst Maximilian Hess points out in a new book, it is also a challenge to the U.S.-led dollar system challenge.
“Economic Wars: Ukraine and the Global Conflict Between East and West” tracks Russia’s recent relationship with the West. Hess explained how rising tensions following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea were seeped into economic sanctions, trade disputes and other financial issues, and how last year’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine turned into a full-blown “economic war.”
Hess argues that the Kremlin’s tying together of these disparate spheres poses a broader challenge to the Western economic order, and the dollar in particular. Once Russia is defeated, he said, there will be an opportunity to address some of the inequalities created by the dollar system — and Russia will inevitably have to reintegrate into the international financial system. That is, if Russia respects the sovereignty of its neighbors.
Here, openDemocracy presents excerpts from Hess’ new book, published August 3 by C Hurst & Co.
