Since the discipline first emerged at the end of the nineteenth century, geopolitics not only shaped the twentieth century but is still very much with us today and for the foreseeable future. Indeed, the war in Ukraine unleashed by Russia more than two years ago, events in the Middle East (in particular the Iranian nuclear issue and the alarming situation in Gaza), and the technological, economic and even cultural conflicts characterising China-US relations are all concrete manifestations of global geopolitical issues. In parallel with this turbulent, not to say bellicose, conjuncture, finance has become largely globalised, in particular with the waves of deregulation in the 1980s and the massive predominance (despite a relative decline) of the US dollar in international transactions and in the foreign exchange reserves of many countries around the world.

As a result, when a country takes a contrarian stand within the concert of nations, the financial weapon can be activated very quickly, as shown by the sanctions against Russia and Iran. And to combat this situation, sanctioned countries endeavour to find alternatives to dollars (through shell companies, local currencies, crypto-currencies, etc.). This interweaving of concepts and facts – i.e. geopolitics and the corresponding conflicts, as well as the financialisation of the global economy – is giving rise to a new discipline that we call ‘Geofinance’. This area of research, at once original and highly topical, is the subject of a dedicated research programme, which was set up by the ILB in early 2024 and is open to partnerships with companies and institutions interested in this timely topic.

The current issue of the Opinions & Débats series is the first building block in the work of this new research programme. The authors, André Lévy-Lang and Julien Pincet, provide an overview of global Geofinance, with a particular focus on the role of the dollar and its implications in terms of sanctions and influence. Fascinating, detailed and informative from start to finish.

Enjoy your reading!

Jean-Michel Beacco
Delegate General of the Institut Louis Bachelier