ARIZ0NA STATE UNIVERSITY Department of Political Science POS 660: Graduate Seminar, Fall 1994 -THE MODERN WORLD SYSTEM- INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Pat McGowan OFFICE: 415B Social Sciences "I only lecture when I'm sure it does more good than harm.' WILLARD MCKECHNIE Seminar Objectives This seminar will present an historical and comparative approach to the evolution of the international political economy since 1500. We are concerned with how our world came into being and with the basic processes whereby it operates and tends to reproduce itself. In the fifteenth century Europe was no more "developed" or "modern" than other contemporary civilizations such as the Islamic, the Indian, and the Chinese. Yet, over the past 500 years Europeans created capitalism and the nation-state as well as the rules of the international system, such as the balance of power, international law, and diplomacy -- rules which have spread to cover the globe today. During this process Europe and its overseas extensions such as the United States became rich and powerful while most of the non-European world generally became poor and powerless. As a consequence of its lack of power and wealth and its history of dominance by the West, parts of the South are in revolt against this system. How did this historical process unfold? Why did it happen the way it did? Can the present world-system be changed? Should it be changed? These are some of the questions we will examine in this seminar. The assigned readings will be from the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, and economic and social history as well as from more conventional political science, and diplomatic and political history. our aim is to achieve a unidisciplinary, historically grounded, social scientific approach giving equal attention to economics and politics via the readings and in particular during seminar discussions. Special emphasis will be given to the identification of major structures of the world-system, periods and causes of structural change, and conjunctures of forces that produced historical turning points such as the original overseas expansion of Europe, mercantilism, imperialism, bourgeois and socialist revolutions, decolonization, neocolonialism and underdevelopment. The theoretical orientation of the seminar will be one of non-orthodox historical materialism, what many would call a neo-Marxist perspective. Discussion of alternative viewpoints will be encouraged by the instructor. The instructor assumes that the study of the past 500 years of the international political-economy cannot be done without using a theoretical perspective which distinguishes between the important and the less important, and that such distinctions are never "value-free." Judgments must be made not only about why history turned out the way it did, but whether or not what happened was "good" or "bad," and for what. Projections of the future evolution of the system equally involve theoretical and empirical reasoning about what is most likely to happen and judgments about what are the most preferable futures. The study of the modern world-system, therefore, is theoretical, empirical, and normative. The instructor will encourage seminar participants to develop their own theoretical perspectives and value premises which, obviously, need not agree with his own. This seminar should be of interest to graduate students in international relations, comparative and developmental politics, social change in sociology, and modern and world history. REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS The following are all required textbooks. Please buy them from the University Bookstore and read them according to the schedule of readings at the end of this syllabus. 1) Thomas Richard Shamon, An Introduction to the World-System Perspective. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1989. 2) Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World-System I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century. New York: Academic Press, 1974. 3)___________, The Modern World-System II: Mercantilism and the Consolidation of the European World-Economy, 1600-1750. New York: Academic Press, 1980. 4)_____________, The Modern World-System III: The Second Era of Great Expansion of the Capitalist World-Economy, 1730-1840. New York: Academic Press, 1988. 5) Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000. New York: Viking Press, 1987. 6)___________, Preparing for the Twenty-First Century. New York: Vintage Books, 1993. Other readings will be assigned according to the schedule of seminar meeting. An extended bibliography covering both main-stream and world-system approaches to international political economy is available for purchase from Alpha Graphics on South Forest Street, Tempe, near the Chuckwagon Restaurant. PARTICIPANT REQUIREMENTS Students with a lively, articulate interest in the subject are sought. No particular background in the subject matter is assumed, although some knowledge of modern history will be helpful. Participants are expected to write three essays and to participate actively in the seminar discussions. 1. Value positions essay, 3-6 pages, due on September 21st. This seminar, if it is successful, is likely to challenge many of your most deeply held beliefs about the world, how it is organized, and how it works. This essay assignment asks you to state your values and beliefs at the beginning of the seminar, so you are clear where you stand, where you are "coming from," and what you would wish to defend in seminar discussion. The two basic institutional arrangements of our world are the for-profit firm and the territorial state, or as system, capitalism and the inter-state political system. Both are open to change, by violent and non-violent means. In a brief, introspective essay, which requires no research at all, just some serious thinking and self-analysis on your part, explain your personal feelings (values and beliefs) about (a) capitalism as an economic system and the firm as its basic component; (b) the territorial state as the basic political unit of our time and the resulting system of states; possible alternatives to these system, i.e., socialism, world government, world empire, hegemonic dominance, new world orders; and (d) your preferences concerning how change within the modern world-system can best be achieved, by violent or by non-violent means. Ask yourself, what are my values and beliefs regarding these issues? Why do I hold them, why do I believe what I do? Clear, logical writing and reasoning are desired; research and footnotes make no sense in an introspective essay such this. HINT: Read Glen Paige's essay,"On Values and Science," American Political Science Review, (December 1977) which may help you to clarify your thinking regarding this assignment. 2. Research Design Essay, around ten pages maximum, due October 12th. In the study of the modem world-system and in the historical social sciences in general there are four possible research designs that may be employed (See Arend Lijphart, "Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method," American Political Science Review 65, 3 [September 19711:682-693): (1) case studies, (2) Controlled comparisons, (3) statistical studies, and (4) experiments and simulations. The first two designs are generally "qualitative" in nature in that there are too few observations to permit the use of statistical data analysis routines. The second two designs are "quantitative" in that there are enough observations to permit statistical analysis. Quantitative studies of the modern world-system are possible, but they are not likely to be a major part of world-system studies (for a discussion of the role of quantitative studies in this area see the Special Issue of the journal, Review, Volume 7, No. 4, Spring 1985 edited by Chri.stopher Chase-Dunn and issues of the following journals that often publish such quantitative, world-system oriented studies -- American Journal of Socioloqy, American Sociological Review, International Studies Quarterly). If there are rea1 limits to the use of quantitative studies in world-systens studies, then it is likely that the most useful research designs will be case studies and structured, controlled comparisons. This essay requirement is designed to expose students to this research methodology and its application to world-system studies. We will devote an entire seminar session to an analysis of Alexander George's method of structured, focused comparison. Please see the required readings for the fourth seminar session in the following schedule of readings. You should also read as many of the following as possible: Donald T. Campbell, "Degrees of freedom and the case study," Comparative Political Studies 8 (July 1975): 178-193. Christopher Chase-Dunn, Aaron M. Pallas and Jeffrey Kentor, "Old and new research designs for studying the world-system," Comparative Political Studies, 15, 3 (October 1982): 341-356. Harry Eckstein, "Case study and theory in political science," pp. 79-138 in F. I. Greenstein and N. W. Polsby [eds.] Handbook of Political Science, Volum VII. (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1975) Terrence Hopkins, "World-system analysis: methodological issues," pp. 199-217 in Barbara H. Kaplan [ed.] Social Change in the Capitalist World Economy. (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1978). Arend Lijpart, "The comparable case strategy in comparative research, Comparative Political Studies 8 (July 1975): 158-177. McMichael, Philip, "Incorporating comparison within a world-historical perspective," American Sociological Review 55 (1990): 385-397. Ragin, Charles and David Zaret, "Theory and method in comparative research: two strategies," Social Forces 61, 3 (March 1983): 731-754. Theda Skocpol and Margaret Somers, "The uses of comparative history in macrosocial inquiry", Comparative Studies in Society and History 22 (April 1980): 174-197. David Collier, "The comparative method: two decades of change," pp. 7-31 in Dankwart A. Rustow and Kemeth Paul Erickson [eds.] Comparative Political Dynamics. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. The research design essay assigment asks you to select a substantive problem from world-system studies and to do enough literature search on the problem to formulate and write a research design for a theoretically-oriented case study or controlled comparison study of the problem. This includes completing the five tasks discussed under the first phase of Professor George's methodology (See George, 1982, pp. 27-30): 1. Specification of the research problem and the research objectives of the study; 2. Specification of the conditions, parameters, and variables that will be employed in analyzing the historical case or controlled comparison; 3. Selection and justification of an historical case or cases that are appropriate in the light of the criteria specified in tasks 1 and 2; 4. Consideration of how the variance of variables can best be described to further the assessment/refinement of the existing theory; and 5. Formulation of the data requirements to be satisfied in the analysis of the historical case(s). This is a formal essay, so it should contain bibliography and footnotes as appropriate. The essay is a necessary first step in the writing of your research paper, together they count for 70 per cent of your final grade. The format of the essay should follow the guidelines found in The International Studies Quarterly 3. Research Essay, approximately 30 pages, due on Wednesday, 14 December. This essay will complete the research proposed in your research design essay. The essay should, in its final form, be an article-length manuscript of a quality worthy of submission to a refereed scholarly joumal. Its format should follow that of the Intemational Studies Quarterly's instructions to authors, so see any recent issue. All students will present their essays -- in draft form -- to the seminar beginning around Nov 16th. This means that work on the research design and research essay should start very early in the seminar. It is essential that seminar Participants use the instructor's office hours to discuss their ideas, progress and problems. If you leave things to the last minute, you are not likely to do your best work. The topic of the essay can be any subject relevant to world-systems analysis. The only constraints are that the paper must deal with an "empirical" topic, it must examine one or more historical cases, and the purpose of the study should be to refine, improve, refute world-system theory. Papers that only present theoretical analysis and critique are not acceptable. 4. Seminar Discussion Participation: This is vital. Each week we have assigned readings. The Instructor will not lecture on this material for more than 30-45 minutes, leaving more than two hours for seminar discussion. In doing your reading you must not only assimilate the information, you should become engaged with the material and come to class with questions you want answered, points of view and reaction you want to express and try out with your peers. You didn't master bike riding by attending lectures, you learned by doing. Similarly, you will best learn world-systenis analysis by thinking, writing and discussing it. Passive learning is an oxymoron. READING SCHEDULE AIJGUST 24: Seminar Organization and Lecture on Sources of the Modern World-System Approach. AUGUST 31: Basic Elements of the World-System Approach TEXT READING: Shannon, pp. 1-136. CORE READINGS FOR GROUP DISCUSSION: Immanuel Wallerstein, "The rise and future demise of the world capitalist system: concepts for comparative analysis," Comparative Studies in Society and History 16, 4 (Septewber 1974): 387-415. Christopher Chase-Dunn and Richard Rubinson, "Toward a structural perspective on the world system,' Politics and Society 7 (1977): 453-476. PRESENTATION READING (TO BE ASSIGNED)-. Robert Reich, "The Real Economy," The Atlantic Monthly (February 1991): 35-52. 7: Some Criticism of the World-System Approach TEXT READING: Shannon text, pp. 137-179. CORE READINGS F'OR GROUP DISCUSSION: Theda Skocpol, "Wallerstein's world capitalist system: a theoretical and historical critique," American Journal of Sociology 82, 5 (1977): 1075-1090. Charles Ragin and Daniel Chirot, "The world system of Immanuel Wallerstein: sociology and politics as history," pp. 276-312 in Theda Skocpol [ed.] Vision and Method in Historica1 Sociology . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. PRESENTATION READING: Ben H. Bogdikian, "The Lords of the Global Village," The Nation (June 12, 1989): 805-820. SEPTEMBER 14: The Research Method of Structured, Focused Comparison CORE READINGS FOR GROUP DISCUSSION: Alexander L. George, "Case studies and theory development,' Stanford, CA: Stanford University, Department of Political Science, unpublished MS., 1982. --- and Timthy J. McKeown, "Case studies and theories of organizational decision making," pp. 21-58 in Vol 2: Advances in Information Processing in Organizations. Greenwich, CN: JAI Press, 1985. Christopher Chase-Dum and Thomas D. Hall, "Comparing World- System: Concepts and Working Hypotheses," Social Forces 71, 4 (June 1993): 851-886. SEPTEMBER 21: The Rise of Europe and Earliest Origins of the Modem World-System YOUR VALUE POSITION ESSAY IS DUE TODAY. TEXR READINGS: Wallerstein, Volume 1: pp. 1-229 and Kemedy, The Rise and Fall, pp. xv-xxv, 3-30. CORE READING F'OR GROUP DISCUSSION: Janet Abu-Lughod, "The Shape of the World System in the Thirteenth Century," Studies in Comparative and International Development 22, 4 (Winter 1987-88) with following comments from others: 3-53. PRESENTATION READING: Benjamin R. Barber, "Jihad vs. McWorld," The Atlantic Monthly (March 1992): 53-55, 58-63. SEPTEMBER 28: Operation and Consequences of the Early Modern World-System TEXT READINGS: Wallerstein, Volume 1: pp. 224-357 and Kennedy, pp. 31-72. CORE READING FOR GROUP DISCUSSION: Immanuel Wallerstein, "The West, Capitalism, and the Modern World-System," Review 15, 4 (Fall 1992): 561-619. PRESENTATION READING: Samuel P. Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations? Foreign Affairs 72, 3 (Summer 1993): 22-49. OCROBER 5: Crises, Mercantilism and Struggles in the Core TEXR READINGS: Wallerstein, Volume 2: pp 2-127 and Kennedy, pp. 73-139. CORE READINGS FOR GROUP DISCUSSION: Andre Gunder Frank, "A Theoretical Introduction to 5,000 Years of World System History," Review 13, 2 (Spring 1990): 155-248. PRESENTATION READING: James Fallows, "How the World Works," The Atlantic Monthly (December 1993): 61-87. OCTOBER 12: Impacts and Involution in the Periphery and Semi-periphery. YOLR RESEARCH DESIGN ESSAY IS DUE TODAY. TEXT READING: Wallerstein, Volume 2: pp. 128-289. CORE READING FOR GROUP DISCIJSSION: Robert D. Kaplan, "The Coming Anarchy," The Atlantic Monthly (February 1994): 44-76. PRESENTATION READINGS: Alvin and Heidi Toffler, "Economic Time Zones: Fast Versus Slow," New Perspectives Quarterly 8, 4 (Fall 1991): 56-58. Marvin Cetron and Owen Davies, "50 Trends Shaping the World," The Futurist (September/October 1991): 11-21. OCTOBER 19: The Industrial and French Revolutions and the World-System TEXT READINGS: Wallerstein, Volume 3: pp. 3-126 and Kemedy, pp. 143-193. CORE READING FOR GROUP DISCUSSION: Immanuel Wallerstein, Report on an Intellectual Project: The Fernand Braudel Center, 1976-1991. (Binghamton, NY: Braudel Center, 1991). OCTOBER 26: The Elaboration of an Industrial World. READINGS: Wallerstein, Volume 3: pp. 129-256 and Kemedy 194-274. CORE READING F'OR GROUP DISCUSSION: Daniel Garst, "Wallerstein and His Critics," Theory and Society 14, 4 (July 1985): 469-495. 2: The Contemporary World System in the 20th Century TEXT READING: Kemedy, pp. 275-540. CORE READING FOR GROUP DISCUSSION: Roger Wescott, "Civil System : A Review of the World Systems Theories of Andre Gunder Frank and of Christopher Chase-Dunn and Thomas D. Hall," Comparative Civilizations Review, 30 (Spring 1994). PRESENTATION READING: Murray Weidenbaum, "The Business Response to the Global Market- place," The Washington Quarterly 15, 1 (Winter 1992): 173-185. 7: Population, Technological Advances, and the Future TEXT READINGS: Kemedy, Preparing for the 21st Century, pp 3-136. CORE READING FOR GROUP DISCUSSION: William G. Martin, "The World-Systems Perspective in Perspective," Review 17, 2 (Spring 1994): 145-185. PRESENTATION READINGS: Howard La Franchi, "What's Next for World Trade?" The Christian Science Monitor: (December 23, 1993): 6. Alan B. Simmons, "Sixty Million on the Move," The UNESCO Courier (January 1992): 30-33. 16: Regional Responses to the Future TEXT READING: Kemedy, pp. 137-349. PRESENTATION READING: Nicholas D. Kristof, "The Rise of China," Foreign Affairs 72, 5 (November/December 1993): 59-74. NOVEMBER 23: Paper presentations NOVEMBER 30: Paper presentations DECEMBER 7: Paper presentations DECEMBER 14: Research papers are due at 12 noon in Instructor's office. PLEASE REMEMBER THESE IMPORTANT DATES SEPTEMBER 16: Unrestricted Withdrawal Deadline OCTOBER 28: Restricted Course Withdrawal Deadline NOVEMBER 11: Veteran's Day Holiday NOVEMBER 24-25: Thanksgiving Holiday DECEMBER 1: Restricted Complete Withdrawal Deadline DECEMBER 16: Commencement SOME RECENT WORLD-SYSTEM LITERATURE Abu-Lughod, Janet (1989) Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350. New York: Oxford University Press. Amsden, A. H. (1990) "Third World Industrialisation: 'Global Fordism" or a New model?" New Left Review 182 (July-August): 5-31. Amin, Samir (1991) "The Ancient World-System Versus the Modem Capitalist World-System," Review 14, 3 (Summer): 349-385. Arrighi, Giovami (1990) "The Three Hegemonies of Historical Capitalism, Review 13, 3 (Summer): 365-408. Balibar, Etienne and Immanuel Wallerstein (1991) Race, Nation, Class. London, Verso. Chase-Dunn, Christopher (1988). Comparing World-Systems: Toward a Theory of Semipheripheral Development," Comparative Civilizations Review 19 (Fall): 39-66. Chase-Dunn, Christopher (1989) Global Formation: Structures of the World Economy. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Chase-Dunn, Christopher (1990) "World State Formation: Historical Processes and Emergent Necessity," Political Geography Quarterly 9, 2 (April): 108-130. Chase-Dum, Christopher (1992) "The Comparative study of World-Systems, Review 15, 3 (Summer): 313-334. Chase-Dunn, Christopher and Thomas D. Hall, eds. (1991) Core/Periphery Relations in Precapitalist Worlds. Boulder: Westview Press. Chase-Dunn, Christopher and Thomas D. Hall (1993) "Comparing World-Systems: Concepts and Working Hypotheses" Social Forces 71, 4 (June): 851-886. Chase-Dunn, Christopher and Thomas D. Hall (1994) "The Historical Evolution of World-Systems" Sociological Inquiry 64, 3: 257-280. Collins, Randall (1992) "The Geopolitical and Economic World System of kinship-based and agrarian-coercive societies," Review 15: 373-388. Cumings, Bruce (1991) "Trilateralism and the New World Order," World Policy Journal 8, 2 (Spring): 195-222. Denemark, Robert A. (1991) "The State in Zambia and Chile: The Role of Linkage to the World-Economy," Review 14 , 4 (Fall): 517-554. Enloe, Cynthia (1989) Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Makinq Feminist Sense of International Politics. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Foran, john (1989) "The Making of an External Arena: Iran's Place in the World-System, 1500-1722," Review 12, 1 (Winter): 71-119. Frank, Andre Gunder (1990) "A Theoretical Introduction to 5,000 Years of World System History," Review 13, 2 (Spring): 155-248. Frank, Andre Gunder (1991) "A Plea for World System History," Journal of World History 2, 1 (Spring): 1-28. Frank, Andre Gunder (1994) "The World Economic System in Asia Before European Hegemny," The Historian 56, 2 (Winter): 259-276. Frank, Andre Gunder and Barry K. Gills (1992) "The Five Thousand Year World System: An Interdisciplinary Introduction," Humboldt Journal of Social Relations 18, 1: 1-79. Frank, Andre Gunder and Barry Gills, eds. (1993) The World System: Five Hundred Years or Five Thousand? New York: Friedman, Jonathan (1992) "General Historical and Culturally Specific Properties of Global Systems," Review 15, 3 (Summer): 335-372. Gereffi, Gary and Miguel Korzeniewicz, eds. (1993) Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press. Gills, Barry K. and Frank, Andre Gunder (1992) "World System Cycles, Crises, and Hegemonial Shifts 1700 B. C. to 1700 A. D." Review 15, 4 (Fall): 621-687. Goldfrank, Walter (1990) "Current Issues in World-Systems Theory," Review 13, 2 (Spring): 251-254. Green, W. A. (1992) "Periodization in European and World History " Journal of World History 3, 1 (Spring): 13-53. Hall, Thomas D. and Christopher Chase-Dunn (1994) "Forward in the Past: World-Systems Before 1500," Sociological Forum 9, 2: 295-306. Knox, P. and Agnew, J. (1989) The Geography of the World Economy. London: Edward Arnold. Martin, William G. (1990) Semiperipheral States in the World-Economy. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press. Martin, William G. (1994) "The World-System Perspective in Perspective: Assessing the Attempt to Move Beyond Nineteenth-Century Eurocentric Conceptions," Review 17, 2 (Spring): 145-186. Moseley, K. P. (1992) "Caravel and Caravan: West Africa and the World-Economies, ca. 900-1900 AD," Review 15, 3 (Summer): 523-555, Sanderson, Stephen K. (1991) Macrosociology. An Introduction of Human Societies. New York: HarperCollins. Smith, Joan (1993) "We Irish Women: Gender, History and the World-Economy," Review 16, 1 (Winter): 1-18. Smith, Joan et al (1992) Creating and Transforming Households: The Constraints of the World-Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Taylor, Peter J. (1990) "Britain's Changing Role in the World Economy," Review 13, 1 (Winter): 33-48. Taylor, Peter J. (1991) "Political Geography within World-Systems Analysis" Review 14, 3 (Summer): 387-402. Wallerstein, Immanuel (1990) "World-Systems Analysis: The Second Phase," Review 13,2 (Spring): 287-293. Wallerstein, Immanuel (1992) Geopolitics and Geoculture: Essays on the Changing World System. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wallerstein, Immanuel (1992) "The West, capitalism, and the modern World-System," Review 15, 4 (Fall): 561-620. Ward, Kathryn B. (1993) "Reconceptualizing World-system Theory to Include Women," pp. 43-68 in Paula England (ed.) Theory on Gender/ Feminism on Theory. New York: Aldine. Wescott, Roger (1994) "Civil Systems: A Review of the World-System Theories of Andre Gunder Frank and of Christopher Chase-Dunn and Thomas D. Hall," Comparative Civilizations Review 30 (Spring).