The Historical Evolution of World-Systems

by Chase-Dunn, Christopher; Anderson, E. N.

• ISBN13: 9781403965905
• ISBN10: 1403965900
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-02-19
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

In this book leading scholars explore the historical evolution of world systems through examining the ebb and flow of great powers over time, advancing understanding of the regularities in the dynamics of empire and the expansion of political, social and economic interaction networks, from the Bronze Age forward. The authors analyze the expansion and contraction of cross-cultural trade networks and systems of competing and allying political groupings. In premodern times, these ranged from small local trading networks (even the very small ones of hunting-gathering peoples) to the vast Mongol world-system. Within such systems, there is usually one, or a very few, hegemonic powers. How they achieve dominance and how transitions lead to systems change are important topics, particularly at a time when the United States' position is in flux. The chapters in this book review several recent approaches and present a wealth of new findings.

Author Biography

Christopher Chase-Dunn is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute for Research on World-Systems, University of California, Riverside.

E. N. Anderson is Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures	vii
About the Authors	viii
Preface	x
One The Rise and Fall of Great Powers	1	(19)
E.N. Anderson and Christopher Chase-Dunn
Two Eurasian C-Wave Crises in the First Millennium B.C.	20	(32)
William R. Thompson
Three From Harappa to Mesopotamia and Egypt to Mycenae: Dark Ages, Political-Economic Declines, and Environmental/Climatic Changes 2200 B.c.-700 B.C.	52	(23)
Sing C. Chew
Four Power is in the Details: Administrative Technology and the Growth of Ancient Near Eastern Cores	75	(17)
Mitchell Allen
Five Power and Size: Urbanization and Empire Formation in World-Systems Since the Bronze Age	92	(21)
Christopher Chase-Dunn, Alexis Álvarez, and Daniel Pasciuti
Six Lamb, Rice, and Hegemonic Decline: The Mongol Empire in the Fourteenth Century	113	(9)
E.N. Anderson
Seven The Rise of European Hegemony: The Political Economy of South Asia and Europe Compared, A.D. 1200-A.D. 1500	122	(33)
Eric Mielants
Eight Contentious Peasants, Paternalist State, and Arrested Capitalism in China's Long Eighteenth Century	155	(19)
Ho-Fung Hung
Nine Space, Matter, and Technology in Globalization of the Past and Future	174	(37)
Stephen G. Bunker and Paul S. Ciccantell
Index	211