Abstract
This is one in a series of papers on civilizational issues. Its predecessors have argued for the existence of a world system/civilization, "Central Civilization," born regionally in the Middle East about 1500 B.C. in the collision of two smaller, expanding local civilizations, expanded throughout the globe, engulfing all competing civilizations to become the unique global social system in the last 100-150 years. If continuing social struggles both are and imply continuing social entities, there is social continuity-stabilities, trends and cycles--in the struggles forming and maintaining Central Civilizations. A consequence of accepting Central Civilization as a genuine entity, or a reason for treating it as a fruitful heuristic, is, in particular, the finding that it possesses a political cycle (states system--universal empire) characteristic of other entities commonly treated as civilizations (Wilkinson, 1986; 1987, 53-56; 1988) as well as a political evolution (from multistate anarchy to balance-of-power) incipient but never successfully established in other world systems (Wilkinson, 1985).
Highlights
Th e eventual objective of this third section will be to find those properties, attributed to world-systems by Wallerstcin and to civilizations by Quigley, that fit Central Civilization, in whole or in part; and to find the lacunae for research to fill, the exploratory hypotheses that guide research even a..,disconfirm ed, the concepts that belong in the repertoire of any future world- economic theory of Central Civilization, whether or not they arc Quigleyan, Wallcrstcinian, or both
It is worth noting that classical liberals and libertarians who believe that planned individual decision-making in a market produces collective rationality might well libel the current world-economic order "historical socialism" and label the Wallcrstcinian ideal "a concretely historical capitalism." Perhaps both applications arc innocuous
Wallcrstcin's world-systems theory needs intensive rcconstructi vc work
Summary
This generally arises in civilizations whose instrument of expans ion is a socialist state In such a case imperialist wars arc not so prevalent a characteristic of Stage 4, and the achievement of a single political unit (universal empire) is not one of the chief characteristics of that stage. Minisystems are small in area, contain a few families or linea ges, constitute highly autonomous, subsistence economies with weak technological ba"es that maintain their populations with little surplus, have a limit ed division of labor and element ary ta"k specializat ion whose processes of exchange among producers arc governed by reciprocal gift-giving, a single culture, no regular payment (or receipt?) of tribute, simple agricultural or hunter-gatherer society, family or lin eage ba"ed: historically they have been earl iest, num erous, short-lived (to a maximum of say 6 gencratio ns,150200 yea rs), recurrently absorbed by and emerging from area" abandoned by world- empir es and world-economies, but arc extinct (TMWSl 34 8, PWE 148-149, 164, CWE 5, 155156). It is worth noting that classical liberals and libertarians who believe that planned individual decision-making in a market produces collective rationality might well libel the current world-economic order "historical socialism" and label the Wallcrstcinian ideal "a concretely historical capitalism." Perhaps both applications arc innocuous
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