Reflections on Wallerstein: The Modern World-System,Four Decades on

Abstract

Nearly four decades have passed since the publication of Immanuel Wallerstein’s first volume of The Modern World-System. Wallerstein and world-systems analysis are frequently viewed, on the one hand, as successful and firmly established, and, on the other, as of largely historical interest, surpassed by a number of new realities and theoretical paradigms. This article seeks to restate the contemporary importance of Wallerstein’s project. It begins by recounting the key conceptual and historical claims of world-systems analysis, and subsequently surveys the broad varieties of critique across questions of economics, politics, and culture. It is argued that Wallerstein’s contentions have travelled well over time, still contenders for attention amidst the globalization literature, and still defensible against post-modern, post-colonial and complexity theory claims. In particular, the strong metanarrative, generative hypotheses, and the still productive research programme of world-systems analysis appear even more compelling in the face of current global turmoil.