Abstract
France is the only state who always belonged to the core of the world-system and never attained hegemony, nor declined into the semi-periphery. This paper focuses on the reasons for this relatively stable position in the pre-industrial world-system. Crucial is France's size and fragmented regional structure. These constraints prevented France from building on its favorable position at the inception of the world-system. France's development within the world-system was further retarded by the shift in the center of gravity and mode of transportation of the world-system. This interplay between general processes, at the level of the entire world-system, and the specific regional structure within France, demonstrates how the general processes of the world-system can be linked to the specific situation in a given country.
Highlights
When I started studying sociology in 1978 the world-system approach wa..:n; ot part of th e regular program
Smelser (1994, p. 31) in another and UNESCO sanctioned "authorativc" survey of contemporary sociology claims: "At its most extrem e, world-systems theory would write the internal histories of societies as ramifications of the international economic forces impinging on them ." Smelser (1994, p. 13 l) writes that Wallcrstcin "carries the idea of the world as an economic system to an extreme, in that the internal dynamics of nations arc seen as overwhelmed by world forces ." Many others - too many to refer to - criticize the world-system approach for a kind of global determinism
A
Summary
When I started studying sociology in 1978 the world-system approach wa..:n; ot part of th e regular program. 13 l) writes that Wallcrstcin "carries the idea of the world as an economic system to an extreme, in that the internal dynamics of nations arc seen as overwhelmed by world forces ." Many others - too many to refer to - criticize the world-system approach for a kind of global determinism. It criticized for over generalizing and for paying too little attention to the particular situation in specific countries
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