Th e jwsr Book Review department publishes reviews of books on the same topics for which jwsr sol... more Th e jwsr Book Review department publishes reviews of books on the same topics for which jwsr solicits articles, as described in the jwsr editorial policy. We also disseminate reviews of reference works and other books containing quantitative or qualitative data useful for world systems research. We solicit volunteers to review books. If you would like to write book
This paper evaluates Peter Gowan s musings on the topic of a U.S.-centered capitalist world-empir... more This paper evaluates Peter Gowan s musings on the topic of a U.S.-centered capitalist world-empire. Gowan s heterodox concept of a capitalist world-empire is intellectually defensible. And his claim that U.S. hegemony is historically unique, because unlike previous dominant powers the U.S. has been able to distinctly mold the accumulation regimes and security environments of its would-be rivals in the core, is more than convincing. However, Gowan tends to overstate the degree to which the U.S. in the 1990 s enjoyed a productive sector revival, rather than a mere super-inflation of dollar-denominated assets. This tendency prevents him from anticipating just how summarily the U.S. would ditch consensual approaches to managing the capitalistworld-economy once the Wall Street bubble collapsed, and hence from appreciating just how fed up Western European and East Asian elites would become with the predatory character of U.S. hegemony in decay. In conclusion the paper argues that while th...
Giovanni Arrighi's The Long Twentieth Century is an almost unfathomably ambitious andcomplex ... more Giovanni Arrighi's The Long Twentieth Century is an almost unfathomably ambitious andcomplex work. Its monumentality derives from Arrighi 's conviction that the best way to handicapthe possible futures of the world capitalist geo-economy is to analyze the structural evolution ofthis global system, an evolution spanning more than five centuries; the genius of the work rests inthe distinctive approach that Arrighi takes. At the core of his approach is the identification ofthose long-term trends and accreted characteristics - one might call them "systemiccontradictions" - that promise to send the world capitalist geo-economy in a radically differentdevelopmental direction as US hegemony wanes. Arrighi 's assessment of these contradictionscompel him to make a provocative suggestion: in all likelihood, no singular concentration of stateand economic power possesses the territorial scale or the organizational capacities required tolead the global system through anothe...
What a difference a year makes. While Giovanni Arrighi s Adam Smith in Beijing is a complicated t... more What a difference a year makes. While Giovanni Arrighi s Adam Smith in Beijing is a complicated tapestry, threaded with multiple strands and sub-themes, if it offers any single master thesis, it is this: over the last four or so decades, the fading of US primacy and China s precipitous ascent are dialectically interconnected, structured processes abetting one another. And, for good measure: China s ascent just might culminate in the formation of a qualitatively novel, world community of market-linked states orbiting around East Asia, but without a dominant center (pp. 7-9). Were I putting together this review in mid-2008, I would express profound skepticism about both theses. Certainly, such skepticism would issue not from the conviction that US global power is invincible, but rather from an evidence-based belief that Arrighi habitually underestimates the extent to which China s ongoing rise in the world order will be traumatically disrupted by the inevitable wipeout of highly lever...
Giovanni Arrighi's The Long Twentieth Century is an almost unfathomably ambitious and complex wor... more Giovanni Arrighi's The Long Twentieth Century is an almost unfathomably ambitious and complex work. Its monumentality derives from Arrighi's conviction that the best way to handicap the possible futures of the world capitalist geo-economy is to analyze the structural evolution of this global system, an evolution spanning more than five centuries; the genius of the work rests in the distinctive approach that Arrighi takes. At the core of his approach is the identification of those long-term trends and accreted characteristics-one might call them "systemic contradictions"-that promise to send the world capitalist geo-economy in a radically different developmental direction as US hegemony wanes. Arrighi's assessment of these contradictions compel him to make a provocative suggestion: in all likelihood, no singular concentration of state and economic power possesses the territorial scale or the organizational capacities required to lead the global system through another round of restructuring and expansion. Properly framed, this illuminating insight could serve as the starting point for a theoretical exploration of the socio-ecological constraints to global capitalist reproduction, but such is a journey (mostly) not taken by Arrighi in The Long Twentieth Century. In fact, to the degree that he subsequently contemplates the prospect of a China-centered reconstitution of the world geo-economy, Arrighi marginalizes the question of global systemic contradictions altogether.
Th e jwsr Book Review department publishes reviews of books on the same topics for which jwsr sol... more Th e jwsr Book Review department publishes reviews of books on the same topics for which jwsr solicits articles, as described in the jwsr editorial policy. We also disseminate reviews of reference works and other books containing quantitative or qualitative data useful for world systems research. We solicit volunteers to review books. If you would like to write book
This paper evaluates Peter Gowan s musings on the topic of a U.S.-centered capitalist world-empir... more This paper evaluates Peter Gowan s musings on the topic of a U.S.-centered capitalist world-empire. Gowan s heterodox concept of a capitalist world-empire is intellectually defensible. And his claim that U.S. hegemony is historically unique, because unlike previous dominant powers the U.S. has been able to distinctly mold the accumulation regimes and security environments of its would-be rivals in the core, is more than convincing. However, Gowan tends to overstate the degree to which the U.S. in the 1990 s enjoyed a productive sector revival, rather than a mere super-inflation of dollar-denominated assets. This tendency prevents him from anticipating just how summarily the U.S. would ditch consensual approaches to managing the capitalistworld-economy once the Wall Street bubble collapsed, and hence from appreciating just how fed up Western European and East Asian elites would become with the predatory character of U.S. hegemony in decay. In conclusion the paper argues that while th...
Giovanni Arrighi's The Long Twentieth Century is an almost unfathomably ambitious andcomplex ... more Giovanni Arrighi's The Long Twentieth Century is an almost unfathomably ambitious andcomplex work. Its monumentality derives from Arrighi 's conviction that the best way to handicapthe possible futures of the world capitalist geo-economy is to analyze the structural evolution ofthis global system, an evolution spanning more than five centuries; the genius of the work rests inthe distinctive approach that Arrighi takes. At the core of his approach is the identification ofthose long-term trends and accreted characteristics - one might call them "systemiccontradictions" - that promise to send the world capitalist geo-economy in a radically differentdevelopmental direction as US hegemony wanes. Arrighi 's assessment of these contradictionscompel him to make a provocative suggestion: in all likelihood, no singular concentration of stateand economic power possesses the territorial scale or the organizational capacities required tolead the global system through anothe...
What a difference a year makes. While Giovanni Arrighi s Adam Smith in Beijing is a complicated t... more What a difference a year makes. While Giovanni Arrighi s Adam Smith in Beijing is a complicated tapestry, threaded with multiple strands and sub-themes, if it offers any single master thesis, it is this: over the last four or so decades, the fading of US primacy and China s precipitous ascent are dialectically interconnected, structured processes abetting one another. And, for good measure: China s ascent just might culminate in the formation of a qualitatively novel, world community of market-linked states orbiting around East Asia, but without a dominant center (pp. 7-9). Were I putting together this review in mid-2008, I would express profound skepticism about both theses. Certainly, such skepticism would issue not from the conviction that US global power is invincible, but rather from an evidence-based belief that Arrighi habitually underestimates the extent to which China s ongoing rise in the world order will be traumatically disrupted by the inevitable wipeout of highly lever...
Giovanni Arrighi's The Long Twentieth Century is an almost unfathomably ambitious and complex wor... more Giovanni Arrighi's The Long Twentieth Century is an almost unfathomably ambitious and complex work. Its monumentality derives from Arrighi's conviction that the best way to handicap the possible futures of the world capitalist geo-economy is to analyze the structural evolution of this global system, an evolution spanning more than five centuries; the genius of the work rests in the distinctive approach that Arrighi takes. At the core of his approach is the identification of those long-term trends and accreted characteristics-one might call them "systemic contradictions"-that promise to send the world capitalist geo-economy in a radically different developmental direction as US hegemony wanes. Arrighi's assessment of these contradictions compel him to make a provocative suggestion: in all likelihood, no singular concentration of state and economic power possesses the territorial scale or the organizational capacities required to lead the global system through another round of restructuring and expansion. Properly framed, this illuminating insight could serve as the starting point for a theoretical exploration of the socio-ecological constraints to global capitalist reproduction, but such is a journey (mostly) not taken by Arrighi in The Long Twentieth Century. In fact, to the degree that he subsequently contemplates the prospect of a China-centered reconstitution of the world geo-economy, Arrighi marginalizes the question of global systemic contradictions altogether.
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