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De-dollarization: myth or real shift?
For years, there has been talk of de-dollarization. For a long time, it was just talk. Since Ukraine, it has become strategy. The dollar remains dominant, but its hegemony is slowly eroding. Trade in yuan is increasing. Bilateral agreements are multiplying. The BRICS countries are openly discussing alternative payment mechanisms. This movement is not coordinated by a common ideology. It is driven by a shared fear: the fear of vulnerability. The war in Ukraine did not create this fear. It made it impossible to ignore.
Economic freedom or shirking responsibility?
Flashmag! Issue 168 January 2026
This is where the argument becomes uncomfortable. Because talking about“ economic freedom” raises an essential moral question: freedom to do what? A world without SWIFT allows sanctioned countries to continue trading. But it also allows authoritarian regimes to circumvent the consequences of their actions. The Western system is imperfect, politicized, and sometimes unfair. But it is also based on standards: relative transparency, common rules, and control mechanisms. A fragmented, multipolar world could just as easily become a less regulated, less transparent, more brutal world. Multipolarity is no guarantee of justice. It is a redistribution of power. The notion of“ economic freedom” used by the promoters of an alternative order is fundamentally ambiguous. It refers not to normative emancipation, but to the ability to circumvent rules. As Braudel reminds us, capitalism is not moral: it is strategic. A multipolar world could reduce certain asymmetries, while reinforcing other forms of domination that are less visible but just as constraining.
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