World Systems Theory

A holistic, analytical approach to international relations developed primarily by the sociologist ImmanuelWallerstein. AlthoughWallerstein downplays the importance of geography in some of his writings, World Systems Theory (WST) is rooted in spatial concepts and may be viewed as a perspective on the geography of economic development at the global scale. The theory has much in common with Marxism, especially the notion that capitalism is an exploitative economic structure that enables certain classes (in this case, clusters of economic institutions) to manipulate the system to take advantage of their superior level of wealth, technology, and development, thereby collectively consigning lesser-developed clusters to a position of relative poverty. A second theory that foreshadowed the world systems concept is dependency theory, promulgated by Andre Gunder Frank

and other scholars in the 1960s. Dependency theory holds that the global economic system restricts the ability of developing countries to advance, forcing them to remain “dependent” on the advanced economies for sophisticated technology and consumer goods, resulting in a core and periphery model of international economic relations. 

Frank himself adopted WST in a modified form. World Systems Theory adds to the binary arrangement of dependency theory a third dimension, the “semi-periphery,” a zone of transition, in which countries are both victimized by the core group, and exploit those on the periphery. The tripartite nature of the system is crucial, because this prevents the formation of a unified opposition to the predominance of the core, because the members of the semiperiphery are unlikely to ally with either the core or the periphery. Two aspects of the theory are clear departures from earlier notions about the dynamics of global economic relationships. First, the system de-emphasizes the importance of the nation-state as an independent agent; rather, economic actors in each of the three divisions work across political boundaries to preserve and promote their interests. A prime example of this would be a multinational corporation. Second, the assumption that every country undergoes a similar progression in its economic development is rejected—proponents of WST argue that countries that are currently considered “developing” will not evolve economically in the same way that existing economic powers have.