REMINDER

You are expected to have the chapter read BEFORE lecture and BEFORE recitation.

TAs will be grading your participation. If you haven’t read the chapter and can’t participate, you will lose points and your grade will be affected!

There WILL be questions on the exam from the reading that aren’t covered in lecture or recitation!

The World SystemArchitecture of

globalization

Today’s Question: What is the World System?

How has it shaped relationships among regions historically?

How does it make some places more powerful than others?

How does it shape globalization today?

Lecture Outline

I. Prehistories of globalization: minisystems and hearth areas.

II. Early empires: metropoles and hinterlands

III. Colonialism: core, periphery and semiperiphery

IV. Neocolonialism and US hegemony

V. The end of US empire?

I. Prehistories

of Globalization

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I. Prehistories of Globalization

Human communities started as minisystems.

Minisystems have a single cultural base and a reciprocal social economy.

They are limited in scale, and usually isolated from other social systems.

I. Prehistories of Globalization

Hearth Areas Eventually, some practices

of one culture spread to others.

The place where a practice comes into being and from which it spreads is called a Hearth Area.

What is the hearth area of Christianity? Of gunpowder? Of noodles? Of the number zero?

Sedentary Agriculture

Growing food, rather than hunting or gathering it, allowed minisystems to grow and expand into hearth areas.

Sedentary agriculture allowed for larger populations, more complex social organization, and increased trade over long distances.

II. Early Empires

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II. Early Empires

Over centuries, some hearth areas became politically dominant over other areas.

An empire is a group of minisystems absorbed into a common political system, while maintaining fundamental cultural differences.

Examples: Ottoman Empire. Others?

II. Early Empires

Egypt and Rome Aztecs

Regional empires

became a world

system

A world system is an interdependent set of

places linked by political and economic competition

or collaboration

World System and Silk Road

Uneven development: Metropoles and Hinterlands

Metropoles

Urban centers of empire.

Which world cities have historically been metropoles?

Which world cities are metropoles today?

Hinterlands

The area where a metropole collects taxes and products to be exported, and where it imports goods for sale.

What places in the world have historically been hinterlands?

What places are hinterlands today? Can you match them with their metropoles?

III. Colonialis

m Core, periphery and

semi-periphery

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Merchant Capitalism

Merchant Capitalism

Merchant Capitalism is the engine of the huge growth in European empire in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Motivated by large populations and not enough food, European countries sought to expand into new territories.

The Santa Maria—Columbus in search of new territories for merchant capitalist trade

Plantations

Plantation System

Colonial systems acquired new land and forced labor to produce a single good for export.

This system was called the plantation system.

What crops were produced on plantations?

Triangle Trade

Core, Periphery and Semi-Periphery

Core Countries

CORE countries Dominate trade Control advanced

technology Have high

productivity Have diversified

economies

What were the core countries in 1800? Today? Steam engine invented by James Watt

In 1763

Peripheral Countries

Are economically and politically unsuccessful

Are dependent on the core

Have disadvantageous trade relationships

Have primitive or obsolete technology

Have specialized economies with low productivity

Copper mines in Zambia made the countryEconomically dependent on Britain.

Semi-Peripheral Countries

Are in-between core and periphery

They exploit the periphery, but are exploited by the core.

Semi-peripheral countries can rise into the core.

Core countries can sink into the semi-periphery

Can you name countries that have moved from semi-periphery to core?

Hegemony

Is the domination over the world economy by one country

It is created via economic, military, financial and cultural domination

Is this a durable situation? What countries have been hegemons that aren’t now?

It is usually based on control of advanced technology

Which technologies have supported hegemons? Rome Steam engine Internal combustion

engine microchips

Control over advanced technology shifts the balance of power between

regions

Be sure and read your textbook about the industrial revolution!

IV. Ne0-colonialism

and US hegemony

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The United States has been world hegemon since 1945

Neocolonialism

Powerful states exercise indirect power over other areas of the world

Not direct rule, as in colonialism

Rather, financial transactions, commercial relations, and covert intelligence establish dominance US domination of Latin America was often

carried out in the interests of companies like The United Fruit Company.

Transnational Corporations

TNCs are actors in neoimperialist

relations They have alliances with hegemonic states advance the political agendas of states.

In exchange, nation-states often protect the TNCs’ economic interests through political and military means

TNCs in peripheral countries

United Fruit Newmont mining Nestle Trump Can you name more?

How are they involved in neocolonial relations over peripheral countries?

Commodity Chains

The path a commodity takes from raw materials to consumption.

Are important paths through which TNCs link core countries to peripheral ones

Involve relationships of dominance and power Coltan miners in the Congo

produce minerals essential to cellphones

V. The End of US

hegemony?

Are we witnessing the end?

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The End of US hegemony?

2008 financial crisis: Can we control global markets?

Iraq and Afghanistan: Can we control peripheral areas through military means?

2011 political crisis: Can our system of government control an increasingly complex world system?

New Competitors in the World System: BRIC

BrazilRussiaIndiaChina

Have rapidly developing economies

Have significant investments in the United States and Europe

Have strong labor bases for expansion

Are flexing muscles in foreign countries

What world system comes next?