Question

Critically Examine Immanuel Wallenstein’s World Systems Theory. (To what extent it contributed to understand and analysis contemporary global issues?)
please keep the word limit within 1500-2000 (abstract, footnotes and bibliography are not included in word length).

Answer 1

Immanuel Wallenstien was an American sociologist and economic historian, who developed the world systems theory.This theory emphasizes   the social structure of global inequality.

When we talk about this world system theory, we cannot go without saying about globalization. As we know, globalization aims at the free flow of goods and services from one nation to another. It is the order of the day. Globalization transcends national barriers,and makes distance insignificant factor in trade and commerce.Here not only trade and commerce but also technical know how and socio economic thoughts are also exchanged.This envisages prosperity to everyone. Every community must try to exploit and utilize the possibilities and potentials offered by globalization. But, we experience that there are more poor people living in the world now when compared to the past two decades. Here is the relevance of the World Systems Theory. Let's examine critically this theory.

Wallenstein located the origin of the modern world-system in 16th-century Western Europe and the Americas.He rejected the notion of a third world. As the whole world is aiming at globalization and thereby exchanging ideas and technologies, there cannot be a third world,only one global network or system of economic exchange exists in modern society.This theory differs from dependency theory. The central idea of Dependency theory is that the poor states are impoverished and the rich states are enriched.According to him, World system is "a social system, one that has boundaries, structures, member groups, rules of legitimation, and coherence". Wallenstein characterizes the world system as a set of mechanisms, which redistributes surplus value from the "periphery to the core" or underdeveloped to developed or industrialized.  Countries do not have economies but are part of the world economy. Far from being separate societies or worlds, the world economy manifests a tripartite division of labor, with core, semi peripheral and peripheral zones. In the core zones, businesses, with the support of states they operate within, monopolize the most profitable activities of the division of labor.

There are more causes of underdevelopment than just Capitalism. Wallenstein puts too much emphasis of economics and the dominance of Capitalism, there are still many areas and people not included in the world system, like tribal people in South America and Bhutan.Through this theory, Wallenstein attempts to explain why modernization had such wide ranging different effects on the world. He shows how political and economic conditions transformed Northwestern Europe into the predominant commercial and power.

Though the functioning of the world economics appears to create increasingly larger disparities between the various types of economies, the relationship between the core and its periphery or the haves and have notes remain relative, technological advantages could lead to an expansion of the world economy as a whole and precipitate change in some peripheral or semi-peripheral areas.

Thus, when Global prosperity remains as a question, can we boast of a World Systems Theory?