Modern World System Research Articles

Impact of Imperial Discourses on Changing Subjectivities in Core and Periphery: A Study of British India and British Nigeria

Eurocentric imperialism incorporated the non-European geographical region in the economic and political milieu of Europe and made the world a global whole. To Mitchel Foucault, the process started with endo-colonization of European people and advent of rational governance exercises experimented first in European states and later exported to non-western regions. The study aims to analyze the different outcomes of European governmentality in European core and non-European periphery and changing subjectivities and cognitions in non-European world with ruptures accompanied by European modernity. The theoretical frame and conceptual toolkit of Archaeology/Genealogy, Governmentality, Power/knowledge etc. are borrowed from Michel Foucault the postmodern historian of ideas. For analytical purpose, the concept of Archeological historicity is linked with World System approach as employed by Lenin and Immanuel Wallerstein. The analytical scheme is to describe events in longue durée from sixteenth century; record shifts in the core Europe, and parallel shifts in peripheral colonial/postcolonial world, to understand the material and discursive conditions of existence. The finding of research is that events and processes lead to different outcomes in core and periphery. A two-level comparison is made: the comparison of European Core with two peripheral regions, i.e., British India and British Nigeria and comparison of two peripheral regions incorporated in the world system as reservoirs of raw material and market

Building Global Sociology in a Divided World (1949–1990)

Unlike physics or even demography, sociology is very sensitive to its social environment. That is why the discipline was mired with controversy and confrontations during the Cold War. How did the development of a global sociology become possible in this social context? Due to the complexity of the historical situation, one cannot expect a simple answer. This article contains an attempt at systematically analyzing the globalization of sociology along four lines of analysis and argumentation. The first line follows the stabilization and growth of national sociological communities after the Second World War. Another line of analysis concerns the developmental path of the International Sociological Association from its founding at the beginning of the Cold War up until its maturation at the end of the 1980s. The mutual influence of these processes is the third line of analysis and argumentation. The fourth cross‐cutting line of analysis is guided by the concepts of social actors, relations, and processes as analytical parameters of social interaction. The conclusion is that the adequate explanation of the globalization of sociology should focus on the interplay of these processes. Special attention is paid to the decisive mobilizing and organizing role of the ISA in this regard.

Crisis of Inequality and Dependency of Third World States in Global Politics: An Evaluation

The study examines the historical evidence of the phenomena of colonialism that led to the situation of economic subservience and political control by the industrialised countries who incidentally are the former colonial master of most third world states. Arising from this, the study was guided by two main objectives. The first is to examine the major contradictions in the relationship between scarcity and human inequality in the distribution of available resources in developed and third world states. The second is to evaluate the crisis of inequality and dependency and their effects on the political economy of third world states, including Nigeria. To achieve these objectives, the study adopts the World System theory as its explanatory framework for analysis of the issues raised in the study. The study is historical in nature; therefore, it is purely descriptive, and it relied on secondary data as the main sources of information. Findings of the study show that the existing relationship between third world states and developed countries is a product of structural historical discontent built on the exploitation of the post colonies or developing countries. Findings further reveal that very little had changed as third world states were still being dominated and controlled economically and politically by developed countries, hence the clamour by third world states for more freedom for individuals and states to guarantee rapid economic growth and political stability. It recommends the redressing of the structural imbalances of globalisation and deliberate proactive development interventions in the area of new economic order to mitigate the problems of inequality and dominance by developed countries.

How does the behaviour of the core differ from the periphery? – An international trade network analysis

World systems theory proposes that global trade is stratified into hierarchical groups, a tightly connected core, and a weakly connected periphery. The theory suggests that this hierarchical structure contributes to power imbalances in the global economy and the organisation of the international division of labour. This paper employs a complex network model, an Exponential Random Graph Model (ERGM), to a set of international trade networks to examine how the export patterns of the core differ from the periphery. The analysis highlights that many of the processes underpinning the formation of trade ties are consistent across product groups. The key differences between the high- and low-tech groups are import patterns. The difference between export activity of the core and periphery is also more pronounced for low-tech compared to high-tech. The differences between the export activity of the core and periphery are, that in the low-tech case, larger nations in the periphery are more likely to export, whilst in the core it is smaller nations (up to a point) that are likely to export these low-tech goods. In both the case of the high-tech and low-tech, less affluent nations in the core are more likely to export.

Melville's Quixoticism and the Modern World-System

Melville's Quixoticism and the Modern World-System

The economics of the Manila Galleon

PurposeThis paper aims to offer a unified economic interpretation of the existing evidence on the Manila Galleon. It intends to be an introduction to the Manila Galleon for economists curious about long-term patterns in global trade, but who are not experts on economic history.Design/methodology/approachThe paper jointly presents quantitative and qualitative data to analyze in a critical way the existing work on the Manila Galleon. It proposes a conceptual model from the world-systems approach to reflect on the impact of this trade route. Evidence from two case studies, New Granada and Korea, accompany the model.FindingsThe paper finds that the Manila Galleon was only possible because of the temporary coincidence of a quite singular set of international circumstances and favorable local market conditions. The paper also finds that, despite its large effects on the global integration of silver markets, the Manila Galleon was a profoundly asymmetric activity that brought minor consequences to most of the world.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper shows the importance of additional studies providing systematic quantitative evidence on the Manila Galleon. The long tradition of an archival collection developed by historians offers a huge potential to this line of research. In addition, studies in regions different from Mexico, the Philippines, Spain and China would contribute to a better understanding of the Manila Galleon’s global consequences.Practical implicationsThis paper provides a series of reflections useful to think about the future challenges of global trade. These challenges require understanding the transformations that will come from profound technological change, massive reconfigurations of the geopolitical order and transitions in the long-term cycles of commodities. Because of their rare occurrence, these are forces hardly visible in recent history, making it necessary for the existence of long-term points of reference such as the Manila Galleon.Originality/valueThis paper brings together widespread evidence on the Manila Galleon and provides a unified interpretation of it. This opens the door for audiences who are not experts on the economic history of the period to discuss the topic, allowing them to reflect on its lessons for the modern world.

Вплив транзиту гегемонії на структури символічного насильства в капіталістичній світ-системі

One of the key concepts of world-system analysis is the concept of liberal hegemonic states, which not only arise, develop, and decline within the capitalist world-system, but also expand and re-establish it on new principles. Precisely, the transition of power between different hegemonic states occurred during the most significant world wars – 1618–1648, 1794–1815, and 1914–1945. This article examines the processes of symbolic violence and institutional isomorphism during the transition of hegemony. It argues that the hegemonic state creates an organizational field that spreads the phenomenon of institutional isomorphism within the capitalist world-system, which leads to some homogenization of the pseudo-independent states that are part of it. Although, speaking of such ‘standardization’, it is necessary to compare each state not with the hegemon but with other representatives of its zone in the capitalist world-system. The formation process of ‘universal’ institutions creates common cultural and political meanings, stabilizing transnational class alliances and allowing the hegemonic state to exercise its symbolic power at all levels of the capitalist world-system. Therefore, one of the most destructive manifestations of the hegemony transition is the collapse of global system of symbolic violence and institutional isomorphism, which leads to the failure of monopoly on symbolic and, consequently, physical violence. Moreover, it gives the reasons for numerous grassroots uprisings and leads to the emergence of competing illiberal government projects.

Cosmopolitanism and Planetary Studies: Paradigms for Rewriting the Past

This paper discusses recent models of world literature rewriting in light of the 2018 Romanian Literature as World Literature, which remaps some of the most representative Romanian authors and movements according to the intersectional frameworks advanced by Immanuel Wallerstein’s world systemstheory, Pascale Casanova’s world republic of letters, and others. In their plea for what the book’s editors call planetary, cosmopolitan studies, the sixteen contributors reread canonical Romanian texts and advocate for a new literary world order, within which Romanian literature is regarded in a less hierarchical/dichotomic fashion, as a literature of the world. This initiative seeks to reposition Romanian literature as a diverse, active, and dynamic partner in the world’s cultural dialogue. My essay addresses a paradox which is very much at the centre of the book: how can one promote intercultural, non-hegemonic models of dialogue when translation and marketability still restrict the participation of “marginal” cultures in the planetary, cosmopolitan exchange of ideas?

Теория модернизации и мир-системный подход как методологические принципы осмысления исторического опыта и современного состояния России

The aim of the study is determined by significant changes in the modern cultural and civilizational space of Russia in the neo-post-Soviet period, which makes it necessary to analyse social and cultural processes using the developments of modernization schools and a world-system approach. The article presents another attempt to conduct a comparative analysis of two scientific schools - the world-systems approach and the theory of modernization in order to develop the understanding of the place and role of Russia in the dialogue of modern societies. The scientific originality lies in the fact that the study reveals the most important historical reasons that determined the position of Russia on the semi-periphery of the modern capitalist world. The divergence and inconsistency of the reforms carried out by the state for external reasons have become a factor hindering the development of the country. Anti-modernization sentiments of the elite and the population have a negative tendency towards archaization and conservation of social structures and socio-economic processes. As a result, it has been proved that anti-modernization sentiments make it possible to preserve the reform potential exclusively in the state, which makes certain moral demands on the representatives of the ruling elite.

The social topology of science in national and transnational contexts: the case of social sciences

The article explores the possibilities of application P. Bourdieu’s social topology in the studying of inequality in science in national and transnational contexts. It is argued that in the conditions of globalising science, discussions about its egalitarianism, which began approximately in the middle of the last century, are moving beyond national borders. For the purposes of studying global inequality in science, scholars often apply the theoretical frameworks of world-systems analysis, neo-institutionalism, and the theory of global governance. However, these theories often lead to reductionism which ignores the symbolic dimension of scientific activity. The article suggests reassessing the heuristic potentiality of P. Bourdieu’s social topology, which mitigates the mentioned drawback of other theories. The article aims to demonstrate the relevance of this theoretical framework for the study of inequality in different scales of scientific activity due to the fact that the French sociologist focused mainly on national academic systems. The article defines the general provisions of P. Bourdieu’s topological concept of the field and the units of the social order of the scientific field. It also demonstrates the role of various forms of capital in determining the structure of social space. Based on the case of social sciences, the article explores the formation of scientific fields, their interaction with other fields, and their structure in different scales. The structure of the scientific field on the national scale can be defined as a dichotomy of dominant – dominated or centre – periphery. On the transnational scale, this dichotomy is also relevant but it is represented by national fields. Among them, the dominant position is occupied by the United States and Great Britain, which have the largest amount of symbolic power. The structure of the transnational scientific space, however, is more complex and includes overlapping fields of national, regional and more global dimensions. The article argued that applying the theoretical framework of the field to the study of the transnational scientific field will remain tied to the definition and explanation of the peculiarities and the interaction of national scientific fields as long as national states keep their institutional boundaries in scientific activity.

How can the Japanese anomaly be explained? A review essay of Atul Kohli'sImperialism and the Developing World- Atul Kohli,Imperialism and the Developing World: How Britain and the United States Shaped the Global Periphery, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.

The impact of imperialism on long-term development in the non-Western world was once a popular agenda of inquiry. After the modernization paradigm turned into despair for postcolonial economies, the notions of informal empire (Gallagher and Robinson, 1953) and dependency (Prebisch, 1950; Frank, 1967; Cardoso and Faletto, 1979) marked economists' discussions on underdevelopment in the non-Western world. The agenda, however, lost its momentum after the 1970s, when some Latin American and East Asian economies began growing and research interests and policy agendas shifted from blaming external constraints to identifying internal enablers (Haggard, 1990, 2018). The externalist scholarship became almost moribund thereafter, although its leitmotif was taken over by some Marxian scholarship such as the world-systems theory (Wallerstein, 1974) and its structuralist and anti-globalization offshoots – also partly reincarnated in the literature on the resource curse (Auty, 1993; Karl, 1997).

GEOPOLITICS IN THE INFRASTRUCTURAL IDEOLOGIES OF 5G

This paper explores how infrastructural ideologies function as tools in geopolitical struggles for dependence and independence of world powers. Meese Frith and Wilken (2020) suggest that controversies around 5G stem from infrastructural anxieties best examined in the framework of geopolitics. We build on this work by analyzing the emerging infrastructural imaginary of 5G in light of the changing global division of labor. Sociotechnical imaginaries (Jasanoff and Kim 2015) refer to the vision of technologies themselves, while ideologies refer to the totality of social relations, translating the objective reality of material conditions to subjective lived experience (Bory 2020). The Western imaginaries around 5G infrastructures reflect, deflect, translate and sublimate the infrastructural anxieties tied to the development and deployment of new network paradigms. Their controversial nature, contradictory content, and fragmented presentation is a necessary part of living through the trauma of lost historical agency on the part of Western superpowers. We engaged in code ethnography (Rosa 2019) of GSM, internet, and 5G technologies, as well as participant observation in the main standard-development organizations of the internet and 5G, and semi-structured interviews with equipment vendors and network operators. Our methodological assumption, taken from World Systems Theory (Wallerstein and Wallerstein 2004), is that the character and content of imaginaries and their underpinning ideologies creatively reflect the position of actors in the global division of labor. This paper contributes to the understanding of the role of infrastructures in geopolitical power tussles and straddles the fields of science and technology studies and international relations.

HEURISTIC CAPABILITIES OF I. WALLERSTEIN'S MODEL OF PERIPHERALIZATION OF SOCIETIES ON THE MATERIAL OF PRECAPITALIST SYSTEMS: SUMMARIZING CRITICISMS

The article summarizes the results of criticism of I. Wallerstein's model of peripheralization, carried out at different times by foreign researchers who used this model to interpret processes in pre-capitalist systems and societies. On this basis, the authors formulate a number of requirements for the subsequent development of a theoretical model of relations between the core and the periphery of the world-system approach of I. Wallerstein. The authors believe that the results of the study may be relevant for the analysis of societies undergoing a process of peripheralization in the post-Soviet space and, in particular, Russia.

Employment transformation in digital capitalism: myths and realities of the social consequences of the global economy digitalization

The article is devoted to the study of the social consequences of the employment transformation in the world of capital in the context of the modern expansion of global capitalism and the digitalization of the global economy. Particular attention is paid to proving the inconsistency of the current mythologization of the digital economy in order to cover up the anti-labor orientation of various forms of non-standard, informal employment, which has become widespread in all three worlds of the modern world-system within the framework of digital capitalism. At the center of the analysis of the digital economy impact on the workers socio-economic situation is the digitalization of the world of work and social and labor relations in the United States, that serve as a role model throughout the world, especially in the economically developed countries of the global North. The digitalization of labor in the Golden Billion countries, as well as in the Third World countries with a transition economy instead of the promised reduction of the contradictions between labor and capital led them to an even greater exacerbation and gave rise to a new type of social inequality digital inequality both inside all countries and between them. The author concludes that there has been a significant increase in the labor exploitation intensification as a result of the digital revolution and the need to search for and introduce new forms of world order under the slogan of the alterglobalists social movement People are higher than profits.

근대 세계체제의 확장과 약소자의 정체성― 중국 조선족 작가 금희의 소설 세계

소설가 금희는 중국 조선족 문학계와 한국 문학계에서 동시에 주목받는 작가이다. 그는 조선족 거주지역인 길림성 장춘 구태시에서 나고 자랐으며, 한때는 한국에서 하위계층 노동자로 생활하기도 했다. 금희는 1990년대 이후 동아시아의 세계체제 변화에 따라, 중국 조선족의 삶이 급격하게 변화하는 양상을 사실적으로 그려냈다. 금희의 소설에는 조선족으로서의 삶을 긍정하는 태도가 드러나고(「세상에 없는 나의 집」), 북한 이탈 주민을 약소자로서 형상화해내는 뛰어난 윤리적 감각을 보여주기도 한다(「옥화」). 개혁 개방 이후 중국 조선족 여성들이 농촌을 떠나 도시로 이주하면서 겪는 윤리적 갈등과 자기 욕망의 발견을 핍진하게 그려냈다(『천진 시절』). 중국 조선족 문학은 중국의 소수민족 문학이면서, 한국에서는 동일한 언어를 쓰는 재외한인문학으로 포용된다. 금희는 스스로를 ‘조선어로 작품을 쓰는 마지막 세대의 작가’라고 했다. 금희는 소설을 통해 농촌에서 도시로 옮겨온 이주민으로서, 가부장적 질서와 갈등하는 여성으로서, 세계체제의 하위주체로서 자기 정체성을 발견해나가는 과정을 형상화냈다. 금희 소설에 표현된 약소자로서의 정체성은 세계체제와 긴장하는 정치성을 띠고 있다. 금희의 소설은 디아스포라 문학을 바라보는 시선에 대해 근본적인 문제제기를 제기한다. 디아스포라 문학 연구자는 자기가 속한 세계를 중심에 놓는 관점에서 벗어나 디아스포라적 주체의 시선으로 세계를 바라볼 수 있어야 한다. 금희의 소설은 중국 조선족의 자기 정체성의 발견을 제시함으로써, 전지구적 근대체제의 작동양상과 연관해 디아스포라 연구를 할 필요가 있음을 제기한다.

Olympic Winter Games in Non-Western Cities: State, Sport and Cultural Diplomacy in Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022

The summer and winter Olympics share the five-ring logo. However, their social and political connotations differ. The Olympic Winter Games displays an aura of a game for the rich and powerful. A few aspiring nations intend to host this luxurious sporting festival in order to polish their international reputations as powerful actors in the global capitalist order. The cases of Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022 illustrate this pattern. Wallerstein’s world-system theory is a useful conceptual tool to examine the context of each Olympics, the content of the Olympic ceremonies, the nature of athletic competitions, and the post-event political environment. Although the three nations have different historical backgrounds and different diplomatic aims, the winter Olympics provided the trio with an opportunity to construct an image of major global or regional power. Russian Olympic diplomacy in Sochi was impressive but its post-event aggression undercut its soft power exercise on the ice. South Korea acquired desired political outcomes by hosting the Olympic Winter Games and its peace campaign continued after the event. China has the potential to highlight its emerging world power status at Beijing 2022. Yet, increasing China scepticism in the West may impede its winter Olympic diplomacy.

Local knowledge and authority in polybius' histories

This paper discusses the importance attributed to Polybius in recent years as a supposed precursor of global sociology, and the overlap between his universal historical discourse and the multiple local pieces of knowledge consulted by him. Two passages of his Histories are explored in detail: Plb. 9.22-26, on Hannibal; and 12.5-16, on Locri Epizephyrii. In both texts there are some explicit references to local knowledge and perspectives, as well as an explicit authorial assessment of their historical value. An important argument here is that Polybius consciously self-fashioned as a cosmopolitan historian, stressing his own authorial competence to build a wider and deeper understanding of historical deeds.

Isles of Passages: Transport geography perspective on Calayan and Lubang as gateways to the main Island of Luzon (Metal ages to early historical period, 500 BCE to CE 1600)

Archaeological works have tended to privilege the processes behind the rise and fall of ancient culture- centers (as defined by Wallerstein 2004 in World Systems Theory) while some have attempted to integrate more data on the changes that take place in strategic nodes or peripheries that ‘feed’ into these centers (Junker and Smith, 2017; Hendrickson et al., 2013). This paper tackles how social-historical transformations may have become an impetus in the waxing and waning of gateway/ gatekeeper locations using transport geography perspective. At the center of the case study are two strategic island nodes connecting to the main Island of Luzon- – Calayan and Lubang group. The paper attempts to demonstrate that due to social-historical factors specifically evolving trade, colonial assimilation, and technological diffusion, these key players have eventually taken a backseat in the transportation and communication network in this crucial passage to Island Southeast Asia. The crux of the argument lies on probative evidence that these islands possibly supported more inhabitants before the Spanish Contact period in the 16th c, using boat shaped burial complexes and ijang (garrison) complexes as proxy indicators. Aided by geomatics and remote sensing and geographic information systems (RS-GIS) algorithms including maximum likelihood classification, band maths as well as principal component analysis, the paper emphasizes the density of possible archaeological sites in both island locales as the proxy indicator to the pre-Contact period populations. The paper argues that the introduction of blue water maritime vessels with the opening of the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade (Wu, 2019; Dizon, 2004; Dizon, 2003; Schurz, 1985 on the Manila Galleon) contributed to the waning of the strategic importance of these island nodes with the final straw being the Spanish colonial administrations’ policy of depopulating these smaller islands and relocating them to their colonial- panoptic landscapes in Luzon. The role of the prevailing market situation as dictated by rapidly evolving scales of transactions from evanescent to more permanent markets (Canilao, 2020) may have also contributed to the emergent new status quo in these isles of passage.

Outlines of a Global Power-Field (GPF) Theory (Part 1)

This essay takes modern world-system theory and maps it into a political-economic field of power. This re-modeling of the theory better illustrates the diffuseness and the spatiality of the operations of global forces; thus, helping us have a greater appreciation of the durability and scope of Western economic and political hegemony across the world. Our exposition also tracks the structural transformation undergone by the Global Power-Field (GPF) throughout its history showing the evolving character of its dominance. Moreover, this field paradigm does not restrict its considerations to matters of political economy but also centralizes factors of politics and international relations that play a fundamental a role in driving historical dynamics. The workings of this emerging model are then illustrated by a historical case study from the Middle East: The nineteenth and early twentieth century Ottoman Empire.

The Logic of Dispossession

One particular focus of world-systems analysis is to examine the historical trajectory of capitalist transformation in peripheral regions. This paper investigates the capitalist transformation in a specific peripheral area—the country of Bangladesh. In particular, it examines the role of dispossession in transforming an agricultural society into a neoliberal capitalist society by looking at the transformation of Panthapath Street in Dhaka, Bangladesh, since 1947. Building on the existing literature of dispossession, this article proposes an approach that explains the contribution of dispossession in capitalist accumulation. The proposed theory consists of four logics of dispossession: transformative, exploitative, redistributive, and hegemonic. These four logics of dispossession, both individually and dialectically reinforcing one another, work to privatize the commons, proletarianize subsistence laborers, create antagonistic class relations, redistribute wealth upward, and commodify sociopolitical and cultural aspects of urban life. This paper’s central argument is that dispossession not only converted an agricultural society into a capitalist society in Bangladesh, but that dispossession continues to reproduce the country’s existing capitalist system. This research draws on a wide range of empirical and historical evidence collected from Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2017 and 2018.