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What is a world-system?

8/9/2013

1 Comment

 
Posted August 1, 2013

   Drawing upon the French historian Fernand Braudel, Immanuel Wallerstein maintains that there have been many systems that form a world, or world-systems, which transcend political and cultural boundaries.  They were not world systems in the sense of encompassing the entire planet, but in the sense that they were systems that formed a world defined by political-economic structures as well as ideologies.  For this reason, Wallerstein uses the sometimes grammatically incorrect hyphenated world-system: “world” does not modify “system;” rather, two nouns are joined to convey the notion of a system that forms a world (Wallerstein 2004:87-89).

     There have been two types of world-systems: world-empires and world-economies.  Both are characterized by a dominating center that controls peripheral regions.  In a world-economy, the center transforms the economic institutions of the peripheral regions, so that they function to promote the economic interests and provide for the productive needs of the center.  In contrast, the empire represents a more limited form of domination, in that the economic systems of the peripheral regions are not restructured.  The center has political authority and jurisdiction over the peripheral regions and requires them to pay a tax or a tribute, but it does not seek to transform economic activities of the periphery (Wallerstein 1974:15-16; 2004:89). 

      In empires, the tribute from the periphery functions to maintain a bureaucracy in the center that administers the empire.  This works well at first, but as the empire expands, and as more tribute comes pouring in, the center tends to absorb much of the tribute in lavish lifestyles rather than maintaining effective administrative control.  The over weighted and gluttonous center is unable to effectively control all of the peripheral regions, and some of the nations in the periphery are able to effectively assert their autonomy and break free of the empire.  Thus empires have a historic tendency to expand until they become unable to control their peripheral regions, at which time they disintegrate.  So the rise and fall of empires is common in human history (Wallerstein 1974:15-16).  

     Most of the great civilizations that we learn about in history courses are world-empires, although we tend to learn less about the empires in pre-conquest America (e.g., the Maya, Aztec and Inca civilizations) or in pre-colonial Africa (such as the kingdoms of Ghana and Mali).  World-economies are less common and tend to be shorter in duration. The ancient Chinese civilizations were world-economies.  Many of the pre-modern world-systems lasted several centuries, but all were confined to a single region of the world.  

     The modern world-system is the economic, political and social system that extends beyond the boundaries of societies and cultures and that today encompasses the entire world.  It began to emerge in the sixteenth century, with the Spanish and Portuguese “discovery”and conquest of America.  During the nineteenth century, as a result of the conquest of Africa and much of Asia by England, France and other European nations, the modern world-system became global in scope. 
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movements emerged in the conquered regions, influencing the development of the system (Wallerstein 1974:5, 7, 10-11).

 
References

Wallerstein, Immanuel.  1974.  The Modern World System, Vol. I.  New York:  Academic Press. 

__________.  2004. “The Itinerary of World-Systems Analysis, or How to Resist Becoming a Theory” in The Uncertainties of Knowledge, Pp. 83-108.  Philadelphia: Temple University Press.  [Originally published in J. Berger and M. Zelditch, Jr., Eds.  New Directions in Contemporary Sociological Theory (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), Pp. 358-76.]


Key words: Third World, revolution, colonialism, neocolonialism, imperialism, democracy, national liberation, sovereignty, self-determination, socialism, Marxism, Leninism, Cuba, Latin America, Wallerstein, world-system



1 Comment
Yuri Grigoryan link
8/11/2013 10:26:56 pm

Mr. Charles McKelvey
You are right, that «Thus empires have a historic tendency to expand». I want to add, not only the political power aspires to expansion but also the economic power is subject to this tendency. It is possible to show similar changes in spheres of their influences during the different periods of history. The unions of tribes formed city-state, expanded later into the state, including of some cities and territory of region, which aspired to conquer as much as possible countries and to become empire with unlimited thirst of the power expanding. Also owners of factories and factories, aspiring to the expanded reproduction that led to overproduction, faced in competitive struggle (market wars) and formed cartels, syndicates, trusts. The history shows that during long period the wars and the politics prevailed in interaction between peoples. These had considerable impact both on the organization of societies and on internal mutual relations. But development of the capitalist states leads to domination of the economic power. Therefore after growth inside of the states the economy units aspire to expanding, directing political power toward capture of colonies and commodity markets.
Really, «the rise and fall of empires is common in human history» and one of the reasons of falling of empires is limitation of communications and a lack of increased needs. "The over weighted and gluttonous centre is unable to effectively control all of the peripheral regions." There is also such reason: extensive growth weakens necessity of intensive growth. The peoples, having mastered military achievements of empires, find possibility of development of own means for successful military actions. Wars create empires, but they ruin them as well. In economy there is a similarity, but also difference from these phenomena. Some countries which were late with colonization but proved to be technically and technologically better developed have started world wars.
But after WWII the economy outstepped the borders of states and covered the whole world. Emergency necessity of colonies has disappeared, and anticolonial struggle accelerated their liberation. As one of the essential parties of economy is production, which appreciably depends on development of means of labor, its growth is possible not only quantitative but also qualitative. Cognition practically has no borders.
This theme at greater length is on the site: https://sites.google.com/site/philosophistor
Yuri Grigoryan, PhD, retired from Physiology Institute
Yerevan, Armenia

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