The Modern World System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World Economy in the Sixteenth Century (New York: Academic Press, 1974)

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The Modern World System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World Economy in the Sixteenth Century (New York: Academic Press, 1974)

In his book, The Modern World System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World Economy in the Sixteenth Century, Immanual Wallerstein proposes a theoretical paradigm to recognize the historical changes involved in the rise of the modern world. The modern world system, fundamentally capitalist, followed the crisis of the feudal system and helps explain the rise of Western Europe to world supremacy between 1450 and 1670. According to Wallerstein, his theory provides a comprehensive understanding of the external and internal appearance of the modernization process during this period—thus, making possible analytically sound comparisons between different parts of the world.

The most significant aspect of his theoretical framework includes four different categories (i.e. core, semi-peripheral, peripheral, and external) that all parts of the world may be put into based on their relative position in the world economic system as well as by their socio-political characteristics.  The “core” regions where the greatest benefactors of this system (e.g. England, France, Holland being among the first core regions during the periods discussed).  The core tended to be the most flourishing capitalistic countries with strong governing bodies accompanied by a relatively effective military force to defend and protect the stability of their productivity.  Conversely the peripheral zones (e.g. Eastern Europe and Latin America) lacked strong central governments or were controlled by other states, exported raw materials to the core, and relied on degenerating labor practices.  In between these two poles was the semi-periphery (e.g. Spain and Portugal), which included regions either declining from the core into the periphery, or countries struggling to advance their economic and socio-political status.  The external regions (e.g. Russia) were able to remain relatively outside the “modern world economy”, using resources in their “internal markets”.

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Regions shifted towards and away from the core throughout the centuries of change and development in the modern world economy.  Wallerstein divides the history of the capitalist world system into four stages.  The first two deal with the periods between 1450-1670.  It describes the elements that European countries took to emerge as economic powers in the world, and the embryonic stages of the world economy.  The third and fourth stages concentrate on the period starting with the 18th century onward, where a shift was made from agriculture capitalism to industrial capitalism.  

The capitalist world economy, as envisaged by ...

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