A BOOK BY HENK WISSEBORN
The Golden Ducat
The great power shift from West to East
Economic and cultural power moves like a pendulum. For centuries, the center of gravity sat in Asia. Then it swung to the West. Now, in the 21st century, it is moving back. The “golden ducat” — the symbol of economic dominance — is changing hands once again.
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From the negotiating table
Not desk-bound analysis but insights gathered in ports, factories, and boardrooms from Shanghai to Rotterdam, from Mumbai to Houston.
Brzezinski, updated
The Grand Chessboard as a frame, but tested against the reality of 2025: BRICS, Belt and Road, the petroyuan and digital currencies.
A compass for now
For entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers who don't just want to understand — but want to know what will matter tomorrow, and what it costs to miss it.
"The question is not whether power shifts,
but whether we are smart enough to move with it."
— FROM THE EPILOGUE
WHAT YOU'LL READ
Four parts, twelve chapters, one pendulum
1. The golden ducat. The Venetian ducat as metaphor — how a single coin symbolizes the economic power of an era. From the Song dynasty to Florentine bankers, from the British pound to the American dollar.
2. The East we forgot. Before Europe became “great”, Asia was the center of innovation, trade and culture. Why that collective forgetting is dangerous.
3. The rise of the West — accident or system? Industrial revolution, colonialism, Bretton Woods. The dollar as reserve currency and the myth of permanent superiority.
4. Eurasia as the heartland. Brzezinski’s core thesis updated. Whoever controls Eurasia controls the world. Mackinder, Spykman and Brzezinski — a line of thinkers who warned the West.
5. The new players on the board. Belt and Road, India’s rise, Russia’s pivot strategy, the Gulf states as financial pivot points. How the chessboard looks in 2025 versus 1997.
6. The West’s blind spot. Why Europe and the US structurally underestimate the shift. The arrogance of “the end of history”.
7. The chemistry of world trade. Personal experiences from the international chemical industry. Where Europe once dictated, Asia now dictates. Concrete stories, anecdotes, tipping points.
8. When the containers went the other way. The moment the balance tilted. How commodity flows, logistics chains and price mechanisms shifted slowly but irreversibly.
9. The new rules of trade. Cultural codes, negotiation tactics, the role of trust versus contract. What Western entrepreneurs don’t understand — and what it costs them.
10. De-dollarization and the new financial order. BRICS, the petroyuan, digital currencies, gold reserves. Why the monetary system is the ultimate indicator of power displacement.
11. Europe at the crossroads. Atlantic vassal or Eurasian bridge? What Brzezinski advised Europe — and what became of it.
12. The next swing of the pendulum. Scenarios for 2030-2050: a Chinese century, a multipolar world, or something we cannot yet name? What it means for entrepreneurs, policymakers and ordinary citizens.
Epilogue — What the ducat teaches us. The ducat passed from hand to hand, not as catastrophe but as natural law. The question is not whether power shifts, but whether we are smart enough to move with it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Henk Wisseborn
Henk Wisseborn built his career in the international chemicals trade. For decades he sat at negotiating tables from Shanghai to Rotterdam, from Mumbai to Houston. Up close, he watched commodity flows shift, trust move from Western to Eastern partners, and the centers of gravity of world trade — cargoes, contracts, prices — quietly but surely turn in a new direction.
“The Golden Ducat” is his account of what he saw, read through the lens of geopolitical thinker Zbigniew Brzezinski. No ivory tower — a ship’s mast.
FOR WHOM
Is this book for you?
- Entrepreneurs doing international business or managing supply chains who want to understand why the rules are changing.
- Investors building a portfolio for a world after dollar hegemony.
- Policymakers working on trade, energy or foreign policy who want to rise above the tunnel vision of The Hague or Brussels.
- Engaged readers who see past the news — who want to recognize the larger story behind the loose headlines.
Read the story behind the numbers
Order The Golden Ducat and read why the West’s power is not suddenly shifting — but has been moving for years. Shipped within 2 business days.