An introduction to 'The Geography of Money' (1998) Benjamin Cohen

““Monetary geography” refers to the spatial organisation of currency relations – how monetary domains are configured and governed.” (P8)

Cohen suggests that competition between currencies around the world is eroding the power of governments, although this is not necessarily a bad thing.

"international relations, political as well as economic, are being dramatically reshaped by the increasing interpenetration of national monetary spaces" (p3).

A ‘reshaping’ or change, Cohen suggests, that will alter the nature of state power.  The spread of more international trading (between differing currencies) removes control over money flow from the state into multi-state and private hands. Cohen debunks the myth of one nation, one currency (in line with the westphalian idea of states) in his writing. He points out that it wasn’t until the 19^th century that money began to be bound by territories and this no longer the case universally. The ability of states to control their currency may be much weaker now than it once was, it does not necessarily negate an utterly powerless state.

 "…the shift in the structure of power generated by cross-border currency competition has not so much diminished as transformed the role of the state in money's newly de-territorialized geography. Governance is now uneasily shared between the public and private sectors" (p13)

While the ‘interpenetration’ of monetary spaces, as Cohen puts it, continues, there still remains an unease associated with states relinquishing their currency in favour of a multi nation currencies such as the Euro. This is unsurprising as no state would realistically want to give up monetary control over their own currency, however Cohen suggests that ‘Political Symbolism’ is a key factor in deciding whether or not a nation would adopt a currency like the Euro, among other states.

We are still in a state, as Cohen puts it, whereby there is an “Intimate connection between political nationalism and territorial money” (p35). What makes this book an interesting read is because it covers ideas of shared currencies before the adoption of the Euro as the currency of the EU.  So profound are obsessions that populations hold between currency and identity that Cohen makes mention to the issues at the time associated with creating an EU note that would not “offend existing national sensibilities” (p37). The Germans for example held the new mark as a symbol of their post-war economic recovery, this type of political symbolism in a national currency highlights how some still hold onto more westphalian ideals associated with money.

“In a short time, the notion of a national money became virtually inseparable from the idea of sovereign statehood” (p36)

At the time of writing ‘The Geography of Money’ plans were being drawn up in the hope of creating a single currency for Europe, which was implemented in 2001.

Cohen, as a liberal and firm believer in the ability of markets as a means for governance, is optimistic about the type of change associated with multi-currencies,

 “Today…we find ourselves in a world of currency competition and dynamic change – a far cry from the fixed and strictly territorial organisation of currency spaces (p35)

However he does go on to emphasise that a complete denationalisation of money is unlikely, as is a reassertion of power by states to control their currencies.