1Roots of World Systems Theory• Why is the Third World Poor?• Richest 358 people have net worth = poorest 2.5 billion• Globalization: latest expression of long-term geohistoricalprocesses: imperialism, colonialism• 8 Dimensions of Globalization (T&F: 3)1. Financial2. Technological3. Economic4. Cultural5. Political6. Ecological7. Geographical8. SociologicalSocial Change in WST• Social change usually takes the state as the unit of “society”• WST postulates a world-system that is a single society; change within a country can only be understood through understanding the country’s relationship within the world-system• Wallerstein draws on 2 schools of thought1. French Annales School of History (Fernand Braudel 1973)• Holistic approach to understanding history; not just a focus on political processes• Examines economic and social roots of history, not just the political façade (materialist approach)2. Dependency Theory (Gunder Frank 1967)• Neo-Marxist critique of development theoryDevelopmentalism / Modernization Theory• Process by which a traditional society using primitive technology transforms into a modern society with high technology, high income• Replace labor-intensive subsistence production with techniques that require capital, skilled labor, scientific knowledge• Development is a linear process; all countries can move through the stages of development as did the European countries• Rostow’s (1967) stages of economic growth (“ladder”)• Critique2Dependency Theory• When Britain and other industrializing countries were at the bottom of Rostow’s “ladder” there were no countries at the top involved in mass-consumption• If India is to develop, where is its resource periphery?• Dependence is not an original condition, it developed through the expansion of European influence:1. European capital initiates production for exchange in periphery2. Introduction of wage labor3. Means of production owned by European businesses• D.T. prescription: isolation from world economy: import substitution, autarkyHegemony in WST• political power is driven by technological innovation• major innovation occurs in cycles• each cycle has an A-phase of growth, and a B-phase of stagnation• the country in which the innovation occurs gains an initial advantage which CAN lead to hegemony1. innovation2. production advantage3. trade/commercial advantage4. financial advantage5. political and cultural dominance3Understanding Wallerstein’s Hegemony• More than just a single state dominating world politics: cultural dominance– Hegemon: image of the future, the “modern”– The economic, social, cultural and political leader• Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937): “hegemony” describes the ways in which ruling classes use a dominant ideology to conceal their control of the masses. The hegemon:– Defines political norms– Defines the ruling ideas of society– Gets others to want what it wants (soft power)Wallerstein’s Short Hegemonies1. Dutch Half-Century, 1625-16702. United Kingdom Half-Century, 1830-18703. United States Quarter-Century, 1945-1970• Based on economic lead, which enables political and military power.• Not an absolute measure, but based on relative gap with competitors.Understanding the B-Phase• Hegemons decline with the start of a B-phase• Cycles occur because the capitalist mode of production lacks central control, the market relies on competition which implies multiple decentralized decision-making > overproduction > B– Example: recycled petro-dollars• Political struggles within and between countries represent the attempt to capture core processes within a state’s borders (material roots of conflict)• Production shifts to s/p or periphery– End of monopoly in production yields a decline in profitability,the innovator needs to reduce production costs (mechanization, cheaper labor)– Lag: technology transfer, maintain monopoly ALAP4George Modelski vs. Wallerstein• Both are lumpers: they impose order on the past and look for patterns (splitters: celebrate specificity and uniqueness)• Both: rise and fall of great powers occurs in a cyclical patternModelski reacts against two traditions in I.R.1. Realist school that presents I.R. as anarchic2. Marxist political-economists ascribe to economic determinism that obscures political processes; geopolitics must be understood separately from world economic structures! ExamplesModelski’s Global System• Begins c. 1500, five 100-year cycles corresponding to the division of the centuries, each dominated by a “world power”! 16thC: Portugal! 17thC: Dutch! 18thC: Britain! 19thC: Britain! 20thC: U.S.Modelski’s “World Powers” Defined1. Military: a world power initially has 50% of the naval resourcesavailable to all the “global powers”• Global powers control either 10% of all capital ships or 5% of the total naval expenditures of the “great powers”2. Political-military complex: a world power is a state that engages in over 50% of the “order keeping” functions of the global political system (a pre-requisite is a sizeable navy)5Modelski’s Cycle of Power• Begins in a period with weak global organizational structure, which degenerates into warfare between the great powers• One state emerges from this core war with its navy relatively intact• As the only world power, this state orders the political system• The world power experiences its zenith in the decade immediatelyfollowing the core war• Other great powers begin rebuilding fleets, the world power’s relative share of global naval resources diminishes• Stages: unipolar > bipolar > multipolar > weakly organized system > war• CritiqueCritique of Modelski #1• Focus on naval power as the source of hegemony is too narrow• Modelski’s thesis: naval power grants the hegemon “global reach” to maintain international order • While air power has taken on many duties of global policing, themovement of large numbers of troops and hardware is still performed by the navy• The U.S. airforce has 50 C-17 aircraft, which can move one Abrams tank at a time; no European country has an aircraft largeenough to carry a full-size tank• Coasts, national waters, chokepoints still policed by navies• Navy as platform for air power > power projectionNuclear Weapons• An essential guarantor of international status and security: other states must respect the sovereignty of a nuclear-state; a
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