A Structural Theory of the 5,000-Year World System

Abstract

Our thesis has been articulated in several articles and was outlined in our book, The World System: Five Hundred Years or Five Thousand? (Frank and Gills, 1993). Its main theoretical premises are as follows: (1) The existence and development of the world system that stretches back not just for 500 years but for 5,000 years; (2) The (political) world economy is a world system; (3) The process of capital accumulation is the motor force of (world-system) history; (4) The center-periphery structure is one of the characteristics of the world (system); (5) The world system is depicted by hegemony and rivalry of political power although system wide hegemony has been rare or nonexistent; (6) Long economic cycles of alternating, ascending phases and descending phases underlie economic growth of the world system.KeywordsCotton TextileWorld EconomyStructural TheoryCapital AccumulationWorld SystemThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.