Modern World System Research Articles

Ukrajinski rat i rusofobija "druge Srbije"

In the first part of the article, the theoretical framework of the analysis is given and the basic terms are explained. The second part presents examples of Russophobia in the texts of some members of the media and cultural elite in Serbia even before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. The third part describes the escalation of Russophobia among that part of the elite after the Russian intervention in Ukraine (2022). The fourth part provides an overview of seven surveys of public opinion in Serbia (2022-2023). All these surveys show a high proportion of Serbian citizens (about 80%) who do not agree with the introduction of sanctions against Russia. An overview of attempts to ignore these findings by a part of the Russophobic elite in Serbia is also given. In the fifth part, the further escalation of Russophobia among the elite is described, and in the sixth part, an explanation of this phenomenon is presented from the perspective of the world system theory

АКТУАЛЬНЫЕ НАПРАВЛЕНИЯ ТРАНСПОРТНО-ТРАНЗИТНОГО ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЯ УСТОЙЧИВОГО РАЗВИТИЯ АЗИАТСКОЙ РОССИИ

Subject. The factors of increasing the geopolitical and geo-economic significance of Asian Russia (AzRF) under the influence of current military-political and socio-economic processes, as well as the target directions of transport and transit ensuring the sustainable development of the AzRF on the basis of decarbonization of transportation processes are determined. The purpose of the work. To identify the strengths and weaknesses of promising infrastructure projects for transport and transit support of sustainable development of the Russian Arctic. Methodology. The research uses methods of world system analysis [1-3], evolutionary and institutional theory [1, 10-12], theory of production and technological balance and technical and economic structures [9], expert and analytical assessments, content analysis of periodical materials. The results of the work. The hypothesis is proved that the transport and transit provision of the sustainable development of the Russian Arctic is possible through the development and implementation of large infrastructure and integration projects associated with the Initiative of the PRC "Belt and Road", the program of India for the development of the transport corridor "North — South" and the program "Made in India", the formation of a Large Eurasian partnerships with friendly states. The conclusion is substantiated that the formation of the Arctic Ocean — Indian Ocean transport corridor (SLO — IO) can and should become an infrastructure and integration basis for the creation of the Indo-Siberian-Arctic trade Route of the XXI century. The main directions of high-tech development of land transport in the Russian Arctic have been identified, primarily in terms of maximum containerization of the transportation process and the construction of extended open magnetic levitation systems (MLTS). Special attention is paid to the identification and systematization of favorable effects for the Russian Arctic and friendly states of diverting part of the flow of Siberian rivers to the countries of Central and Western Asia. Conclusions. A reasonable conclusion is made that important partners of Russia and other post-Soviet countries in the process of reindustrialization of the economy on the basis of the latest technological structure, the formation of trade routes of the XXI century and their innovation–industrial belts in the direction of "North- South", transport and transit ensuring sustainable development of the Russian Arctic, increasing the volume of exports of transport services are the countries of the Islamic the world.

Homo Academicus as a Bearer of Responsibility

The authors explore the problem of scientists’ and scholars’ responsibility for the emergence, development, achievements, and failures of the modern world-system. They hypothesize that this problem of homo academicus (understood as a collective subject) responsibility can be systematically researched in the context of scientists’ and scholars’ activities as personal social and anthropological practices concerned with re-pro-ducing the social. This article follows E. Levinas’s idea that every form of subjectivity a priori acts as a form of responsibility, while also using J. Caputo’s concept of “the end of ethics”, reframing it as a strategy of “open-ended responsibility” in which the structure and contents of responsibility always have the potential to be reconsidered. Homo academicus is one of the subjects of Modernity; it is intimately related to the production of the social. Scientists and scholars as experts, idea generators, consultants, tenured professors etc. take part in and are responsible (alongside other subjects of Modernity) for the production of images of the human being (homo economicus, politicus, religiosus etc.). They themselves act within one of those images — homo academicus. In general, since the beginning of the twentieth century the social sciences and the humanities have gone from the universal rationality of M. Weber to the idea of methodologies with limited responsibility of V. Rozin. Through our study of the existential nature of scientific activity, we come to the conclusion that scientific cognition does not just legitimize social being and point at its problems; it also establishes hope for a better way of being where there's a place for truth, values of freedom, responsibility, friendship, creativity.

Глобальная роль доллара и тенденции дедолларизации мировой экономики в новых условиях

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the role of the dollar in the world economy and its formation as a world reserve currency. Based on the methodology of the school of world-system analysis (J. Arrighi, S. Amin, I. Wallerstein, R.S. Dzarazov), the author reveals the mechanism for using the dollar as one of the instruments of unequal exchange between the center and the periphery of the economy within the American systemic capital accumulation cycle. Based on a comprehensive empirical analysis, an assessment is made of the trends in the de-dollarization of the world economy in the 21st century. It was found that despite the devastating consequences of the global crisis of 2007–2009. caused by the hypertrophied development of the financial sector of the US economy during the global crisis, the dollar retained a key role in the international reserves of states, in trade and exchange operations in the world economy. In particular, the Russian economy, despite the statements of the authorities about moving towards abandoning the dollar, nevertheless remained highly dependent on it, only partially replacing US dollars with the euro. Real de-dollarization 2022-2023 in Russia became a necessary measure for business, and was associated with the partial blocking of Russian correspondent accounts in Western banks.

КРЕДИТНАЯ ПОЛИТИКА МЕЖДУНАРОДНОГО ВАЛЮТНОГО ФОНДА – ПОМОЩЬ НУЖДАЮЩИМСЯ ИЛИ ИНСТРУМЕНТ ЗАКАБАЛЕНИЯ?

The article discusses three examples of lending to countries with different degrees of economic development. Macroeconomic analysis makes it possible to determine the specific effects of the crisis and the reforms of the International Monetary Fund on the economy, while the world-system analysis based on these data reveals the position of certain countries in the international division of labor.

СОВРЕМЕННЫЙ ГЛОБАЛЬНЫЙ ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЙ КРИЗИС: МИР-СИСТЕМНЫЙ ПОДХОД

The paper is focused on the nature of the current crisis of the world economy from standpoint of the World-System approach. The main ideas of this school of economic thought are considered. According to them capitalism develops through unequal relations of the core (developed industrial countries) and the periphery (the developing nations). The author argues that the current structure of the world economy appeared in result of the mass transfer of production from the developed to the developing economies. This process had led to deficiency of aggregate demand in the world economy comparative its aggregate supply. This generated the current global economic c6risis.

United States’ Africa Command and Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea, 2007 – 2020

This study examined the impact of US Africa Command on maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, between 2007 and 2020, with specific emphasis on the core maritime security challenges in West Africa. The study was anchored on the World Systems Theory, while data were generated using documentary and survey methods. Data collected were analysed using content analysis. The study found that maritime security challenges in West Africa include piracy, armed robbery, and drug trafficking. It also found that maritime insecurity has remained endemic in the Gulf of Guinea, despite the establishment of US Africa Command. The study locates the limited effectiveness of AFRICOM in mitigating maritime security challenges to its establishment without adequate consultation with West African leaders which triggered suspicion and resistance among countries in the Gulf of Guinea. The study posits that the geostrategic importance of the sub-regional maritime has remained the U.S government’s strategic interest. The study, therefore, recommends, among others, that the U.S. government should strengthen inter-state collaboration through existing security agencies in the sub-region.

Challenge of “Decolonisation” and Need for a Comprehensive Redefinition of Neocolonialism

The need for “decolonisation” of the Second world and semi-periphery countries (in the terminology of world-systems analysis) is increasingly raised in practical policy as well as in academic publications. However, the very question of decolonisation as applied to countries that were the targets of European colonial expansion is fraught with both negative consequences in political practice and theoretical confusion. On the one hand, the discourse of “decolonisation” encourages separatist tendencies and leads to new conflicts. On the other hand, the notion of “colonialism” is becoming less rigorous: in this perspective, any territorial expansion by any state at any time in history can be described as colonialism. The notion of “colonialism” loses its specific historical meaning and hence turns from a scientific term into a propaganda cliché. Thus, the possibility to correctly comprehend the phenomenon of European colonialism as a concrete historical reality that determined the fate of the peoples of both Europe itself and other parts of the world in Modern times, the only “colonialism” that the peoples of the world have really faced for the last 500 years, disappears. Theoretical and practical, scientific and political aspects of the problem are closely linked. Within an expansive interpretation of “colonialism”, former colonial powers, moreover, states still possessing unequal dependencies, such as the USA, are able to accuse their geopolitical opponents of “colonialism” as they are multi-ethnic powers, formed as a result of long historical processes, where various practices of ethnic interaction have taken place. The very possibility of interpreting the practices of non-European powers (Russia, China, Iran, Ethiopia) as colonial is linked to the popular paradigm of “internal colonialism.” It has emerged as part of the post-colonial theory of international relations in European and American academic centres and by its very nature is an example of a deliberately biased approach that focuses on the most marginalised groups of “subalterns” but ignores major civilisational entities. The author points out the biases and shortcomings of this approach with concrete examples, reveals its philosophical premises and suggests using the findings of fundamental geopolitics, world-systems theory, philosophy of space and philosophy of culture to clarify the concept of “colonialism.”

Interconnectivity of the Vardar and Struma river valleys. Some hints to the understanding of the south-eastern Balkans role in the 2nd millennium BC

The Vardar and Struma rivers flow through the south-eastern Balkans, creating valleys which have been inhabited by human populations for thousands of years. From an archaeological perspective, from Neolithic times these corridors have long been considered crucial for establishing cultural, trade, and social networks, developed later by the emergence of cultural complexes of Late Bronze Age. This area was incorporated into wide archaeological frameworks of interregional interaction, namely – the world-system theory and its variants. The aim of this paper is an attempt to apply these theoretical models as well as concept of “contact space” to human interactions in the Vardar and Struma rivers’ valleys in the 2nd millennium BC. It analysis bases on tableware pottery evidences with data concerning presence of defensive outposts within easy to control mountainous paths, as well as chosen information deriving from funeral rites. These data may provide insights into the communication networks in south-eastern Balkans and mentioned river valleys may seem as an important area of mutual influences.

Reconciliation, Heritage and Social Inclusion in the Middle East and North Africa, edited by Iyad Muhsen AlDajani, and Martin Leiner. Springer, Cham. 2022. XXV, 481 pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08713-4.

The idea of ​​reconciliation, heritage and social inclusion in the Middle East and North Africa has been in the spotlight for many decades, as both regions constantly present such dramatic changes that reverberate around the world. In both regions, the geopolitical interests of world and regional powers are closely intertwined, and energy reserves allow you to influence the level of prices for them. In fact, all this becomes the reason for the acute manifestation of religious conflicts, the politicization of religion and tradition, thereby creating a turbulent environment for many actors. It is also worth mentioning the unresolved issues of nation-building and nation-states, the diversity of the ethnic and religious composition of the population in many places, the uneven distribution of income in societies, the level of militarization, and much more, to present the complexity and anxiety of the overall picture.
 The results of the chain of revolutions that took place in these regions did not solve almost any of the urgent problems in any of the countries and at the same time caused a systemic earthquake, a series of coups, civil wars, interventions, as well as unrelenting confrontation in society, leading to rampant terror and repression. Based on a comprehensive theoretical study of the phenomenon of reconciliation, heritage and social integration, this collection of articles presents a deep analysis of events in the Middle East and North Africa, summarizes the results of the previous development of this region, and reveals the causes of social and political failures. The main conclusions of the articles lead the reader to the conclusion that turbulence in both regions is the beginning of a new process that has embraced the reconfiguration of the modern world-system.
 This book contains many interesting facts, generalizations and points of view. Therefore, it will be interesting and useful not only for social scientists, but also for everyone interested in the problems of systemic transformations in the Middle East and North Africa.

Hegemony and Inequality in Global Science: Problems of the Center-Periphery Model

The autonomous global system of science, grounded in collegial networks of scientists, publishing, and cross-border papers, is expanding rapidly and spreading to a growing number of countries. Strong national science systems have emerged outside Euro-America. Yet the multipolarization of economic capacity and scientific output plays out within a continuing Euro-American science world regulated by an inside/outside binary. Global science remains primarily Anglo-American in language, leading institutions, disciplinary and publishing regimes, agendas, and topics. Non-English and endogenous knowledges are excluded. The article critiques the world-systems theory interpretation of relations of power in science. The determinist center-periphery model fails to grasp the growth and pluralization of global science and its relation with national science systems. It normalizes the Eurocentrism it opposes, radically underestimating agency outside the “center” countries. The article argues for a more ontologically open theorization of global power in science, in terms of cultural hegemony, and for an ecology-of-knowledges approach.

Отношения «центр-периферия» в мир-системном анализе: политические аспекты

The article is devoted to the consideration of the «center-periphery» relations in the world-system analysis. It is considered how one of the founders of the world-system analysis, Immanuel Wallerstein, borrowed the provisions of the dependence theory. Using retrospective and hermeneutic methods, we reproduce the origin and development of center-periphery relations, and with them the entire capitalist world-system. Particular attention is paid to the semi-periphery – the territories located between the center and the periphery. Introducing the concept of a semi-periphery, Wallerstein solves a number of problems associated with his application of the theory of dependence. At the same time, with the introduction of the semi-periphery, a number of problems arise - how to determine the state belonging to the semi-periphery, as well as the problem of the role of the semi-periphery in the functioning of the capitalist world-system. These problems are caused by the absence of intermediate zones in the dependence theory. A separate problem is related to the political status of the periphery and semi-periphery. In the case of the periphery, this is the problem of political subjectivity within the framework of a long historical time (historically, not every state of the periphery is a colony, but the colonies are the periphery) in relation to the semi-periphery - primarily its stabilizing role. This function, as the study showed, is attributed to it erroneously. Based on this, it is necessary to revise the theoretical paradigms of world-system analysis.

CONTEMPORARY TERRORISM: A WORLD SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE

A trajectory view of the world system perspective reveals a fundamental engagement of protest against the ways we have thought or come to know the world around us. This realization only serves as an expression of the real protest concerning the deep inequalities of world system which have become politically central in our current times. This paper draws theoretical resources from the world system perspective and capping it with the terminal current unitary world and the place of terrorism in such system. Peripheral analysis of the world system was undertaken to expose the place and roles of nations globally and domestically in the development of contemporary terrorism. Lopsided economic structure, injustice, poverty and deprivation were identified as major factors facilitating the use of terrorist’s strategies by poor nations (referred to as semi-periphery nations) and individuals in drawing attention to their plights. A review of the western economic mechanism (Globalisation) and how it engenders terrorism in the present world was undertaken. An excursion was also undertaken to explore the various instances of global terrorism and the Nigerian situation as well as the analysis of the fundamental reasons behind terrorism and the modern-day tools for terrorists with a view to advancing some antidotes towards addressing global and domestic terrorism and its implications for national development. The paper concludes by advocating that irrespective of the divide we find ourselves we must all return to the pristine foundation of rational humanism and the reinstatement of mutually beneficial relations between the human world and the natural world.

Food security and agricultural crises in a “financialized food regime”

The paper explores the impact of finance's penetration into agriculture and the global food system. The authors analyse the causes of the recent global food crises, unveiling the key role played by financial speculation and explaining why this phenomenon is likely to affect food security much more than the problems related to the supply and demand dynamics taking place in the “real economy”. Financial markets, it is argued, are engendering pricing mechanisms and dynamics of wealth distribution that have consequences on agrarian structures, but also on our daily life. While creating new profit opportunities for speculators and the agribusiness, the penetration of finance into food systems increase uncertainty and imply new risks for local actors, to the point of compromising their capability to respond to exogenous shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. To make sense of these phenomena, they must be linked to the broader transformation of our global system and to the long-term trajectories of capitalist development. This operation is here made with the support of the analytical tools provided by some approaches inspired by the world-system analysis, bringing to light the roots of what can be defined as a “financialized food regime” and discussing some of its important ecological and socio-economic contradictions.

Global Surpluses of Extraction and Slow Climate Violence: A Sociological Framework

This review article examines the concept of slow violence in relation to the current climate collapse. It outlines the extractive relationship between states in the Global North and Global South, and explores how this relationship creates and sustains disproportionate climate violence for the Global South. It critiques proposed adaptation and mitigation solutions for the Global South that emphasize market‐led proposals and a return on investments that mostly benefit the Global North. It argues that these proposals fail to critically engage with the root causes of vulnerability to climate change and Greenhouse Gas emissions that cause climate change. The review uses World Systems Theory to analyze the power differentials between South and North, and concepts such as the “Color Line,” “Necropolitics,” and “Slow Violence” to underline the post‐colonial character of this relationship. These provide historical context to the current hegemonic role of the Global North in carbon emission negotiations and responses. In doing so, the article highlights the need to think about climate change, and solutions to climate change, as a driver of slow violence and surplus climate violence by the Global North against the Global South.

ARE SANCTIONS FOR LOSERS? A NETWORK STUDY OF TRADE SANCTIONS

<p>Studies built on dependency and world-system theory using network approaches have showed that international trade is structured into clusters of ‘core’ and ‘peripheral’ countries performing distinct functions. However, few have used these methods to investigate how sanctions affect the position of the countries involved in the capitalist world-economy. Yet, this topic has acquired pressing relevance due to the emergence of economic warfare as a key geopolitical weapon since the 1950s. And even more so in light of the preeminent role that sanctions have played in the US and their allies’ response to the Russian-Ukrainian war. Applying several clustering techniques designed for complex and temporal networks, this paper shows that a shift in the pattern of commerce away from sanctioning countries and towards neutral/friendly ones. Additionally, there are suggestions that these shifts may lead to the creation of an alternative ‘core’ that interacts with the world-economy’s periphery bypassing traditional ‘core’ countries such as EU member States and the US.</p>

The Infrastructure Competition between the United States and China in Developing Countries

A brief comparative analysis of US and Chinese infrastructure projects is provided. The world-system approach, which sets the objective possibilities and limitations of the strategies of the United States and China as interconnected parts of the world economy and politics, was chosen as the methodological basis. The first part of this article describes the world-system approach, as well as the position of the People’s Republic of China in the modern system of international relations. The second part is devoted to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. The third part provides an analysis of counterinitiatives put forward by the United States.

World-systems Foundations of Supradisciplinary Synthesis: Program Outlines for Studying the Dynamics of Societies in the Post-Soviet Space

Introduction. The study of processes in societies in the post-Soviet space exceeds the scope of any single scientific discipline. All the existing attempts at interdisciplinary synthesis do not allow to overcome the fragmentation of scientific knowledge. The article describes the structure of the foundations of the supradisciplinary synthesis based on the ideas of I. Wallerstein. An analysis of the concept of Eurasianism (which, in the author's opinion, is the most influential interdisciplinary direction in modern domestic social science that studies processes in the post-Soviet space) was carried out with the aim of subsequent synthesis with the world-systems approach.Methodology and sources. The foundations of the supradisciplinary synthesis are the concept of the world-systems approach by I. Wallerstein, the characteristics of macro-, meso-, microsocietal levels by J. Turner, and the idea of four spheres of socio-historical existence by N. S. Rozov (biotechnosphere, psychosphere, cultural sphere, sociosphere).Results and discussion. The resulting structure of the supradisciplinary synthesis is a tool that will allow: to systematize the existing developments in the field of the world-systems approach; to discover existing gaps and fill them by synthesis with directions that do not contradict the world-systems approach; to carry out a critical analysis of theories of competing paradigms with world-systems analysis by comparing their empirical areas; systematically expand the empirical field and develop the world-systems theory. The tradition laid down by the historiosophy of Eurasianism is a culture-centered direction with additional accents in the biotechnosphere, sociosphere and psychosphere. At the present stage this contributes to its development as an interdisciplinary field of research. In Eurasianism, there is no ontology of the world as a system that includes societies in the structures of intersocietal ties and acts as a “containment environment” for their development. The Eurasian concept has an antisystemic ideological basis, and for this reason it is difficult to explain on its basis the desire of the post-Soviet states to integrate into the world system, their mutual competition and military conflicts.Conclusion. The supradisciplinary synthesis with world-systems analysis will allow Eurasianism to overcome the existing gaps in ontology and strengthen the explanatory potential. The empirical baggage accumulated by Eurasianism will receive a world-systems interpretation of processes in the post-Soviet space, which will serve to expand the empirical field of the world-systems approach.

“Twins in Spite of Themselves”: Spanish and Ottoman Empires’ “Issues of Decline” in XVIIIth Century

Spanish and Ottoman empires had more similarities that could be found at first glance. Both experienced the take-off as leading force in Europe and Asia respectively, being for a while the most fearful and powerful states during XVI, faced economic and political blunders in XVII century and slightly ended with stagnation in XVIII century (as conventional wisdom says). Using comparative method and cultural analysis, article tries to answer a question – how unique or regular was that issues which stroke Spain and Ottoman Empires, how deeply they were engaged in so called decline narrative, created in XIX century European historiography and is it possible to create common trend for empire`s stagnation using not only historical sociology method (sociology of revolution used by Jack Goldstone and Teda Skocpole) and world-system analysis provided by Immanuel Wallerstein, with emphasis on history of ideas or begriffsgeschichte by Reinhardt Kosseleck. Main results are going to provide a more correct view on the status of Spanish and Turkish Empires during the XVIII century. Despite that Ottomans and Spaniards had obvious differences in political distribution, economic capabilities, warfare tactics and external actions, almost simultaneous decline was based on clear and exact reasons: lack of industrialization (production with high surplus value), hush incorporation of Ottoman and Spanish Empires into World-Economy, lack of defending tariffs, ineffective fiscal system and policy, devastating and lasting wars, decreasing price for agricultural products, down warding Kondratieff cycle, rigid political and social units, which constrain strict political actions. These gaps made the Empire’s decline possible notwithstanding those problems which they had previously. Oppositely, major European states (England, France, Prussia) had made reversed actions, which took a long time, but made European “take-off” inevitable, assured their economical breakaway to further domination over the Ottomans and Spaniards as well.

Indigenous cultures in the era of globalisation

Advocates of cultural imperialism theory have continued to argue that indigenous cultures,especially of African societies, are daily eroded in the age of globalisation. Their argument isbased on Schiller’s debatable notion that a society is brought into a modern world system when itsdominating stratum is attracted, pressured, forced, cajoled and sometimes bribed into acceptingits traditional system and values as inferior, outdated and mundane; and shaping such systemand values to correspond to, or even promote, the values and structures of the dominating centreof the system. This paper submits that this argument is no longer tenable in the age of globalisation. This isbecause the major arguments of the cultural imperialism theory now strike a discordant note withglobal-village and media-convergence tunes. Second, the theory - as suggested - builds on masssocietyand magic-bullet perspectives that have long been discredited both in media practice andin scholarship because they do not acknowledge audiences’ ability to process information andinterpret cultural messages differently based on their cultural environment. The paper thereforeconcludes that cultural imperialism theory needs a re-examination in line with the contemporaryrealities of today’s world as a global village made possible by the advances in information andcommunication technologies (ICTs).