Sunday, May 4, 2014 - 0 comments

Modern World System Theory



           Hello Readers ! Thank you  very much for reading this blog, i hope you can get many knowledge after doing that. :D

       International Political Economy (IPE) Perspectives are very dynamic. There is one framework of analysis that only view IPE “from below”, from the perspective of the oppressed classes, the poor, and the developing “Third World” nations. In contrast to mercantilism and Liberalism, it gives a voice to the powerless, this perspective raises issues about human freedom and the application of reason in shaping national and global institutions. This perspective calls structuralism which is a root in ideas of Karl Marx.

            I will not explain about structuralism perspective because in this blog already one article who discussed about that, but I would like to discussed about the recent theory who associated and related to “structuralism perspective”. That is “The Modern World System Theory”, this theory was originated by Immanuel Wallerstein.

“The Modern World System is a world economy : it is larger than any juridically defined political unit, and the basic linkage between its parts is economic”

For Immanuel Wallerstein, the world economy provides the sole means of organization in the international system. He proposed three different categories of nations which are core, semi-periphery and periphery nations. This categories describe each region’s relative position within the world economy as well as certain internal political and economy characteristics. There is an dependency among these nation states to do an exchange.

Core
The Core regions benefited the most from the capitalist world economy. The characteristics of core nations are have strong central governments, extensive bureaucracies and large mercenary armies. International commerce is controlled by local bourgeoisie. According to Wallerstein, the core nations dominate the peripheral nations through unequal exchange for the purpose to extracting cheap raw materials.

The core nations using the periphery as a market for dumping surplus production. The core interacts with the semi-periphery and periphery nations through the global structure of capitalism, exploiting these regions and also transforming them. The core nations usually regulating and determining international market rules. And when the periphery nations try challenging or interrupting the market rules, the core nations will use force or power to faced it. The example of core nations are United States, United Kingdom and the other developed countries.

Semi-Periphery
            According to Wallerstein, the semi-periphery nations were exploited by the core but become exploiter to periphery nations too. The semi-periphery nations are less dependent to core nations. The semi-periphery nations also contribute to stabilizing the world economy system because become one of the capital intensive industries. The core nations usually make the semi-periphery nations become the basis of the production factories because semi-periphery nations have cheap labours. The semi-periphery nations sometimes seeking to be core by using mercantilism principles like collecting wealth to increase the power of that country, maximizing exports and limiting imports. The example of the semi-periphery nations is China.

Periphery
            The periphery nations are the countries that have big raw materials and  very concerned with agricultural sectors because have large land and fertile soil. The periphery nations have lacked strong central government,the periphery nations have internal problems with the Governmental officials and structure. The periphery nations were controlled by other states through imperialism and international market rules too. The periphery nations export raw materials to core nations and core nations sell the finished product to the periphery nations with a higher price. The example of the periphery nation is Brazil.

So, where is Indonesia’s position exactly? I think Indonesia’s position is still in the periphery nations, Indonesia still controlled by International market and other state, Indonesia have many natural resources but only can export raw materials to core nations not the finished products even we have to but that in a higher price….

            We can’t change the system, but we can change our positions in this modern world system. According to Immanuel Wallerstein Arguments, “ politics is constrained by the economic structures, that strong (core) nations dominate weak (peripheral) one because placement of the nation state in the world capitalist system affects its ability to influence its global roles. So, the solution is we should maximizing our influence to the global economy system, I hope one day our country can be a core nation :D ……….

Thanks
Noto Suoneto

References :
·         -  Balaam David N. and Dillman Bradford,”Introduction to International Political Economy,Fifth Edition,“Economic Determinism and Exploitation: The Structuralist Perspective”pp 107-132.Pearson Education,2011.
·       -   The Modern World System : Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the sixteenth Century. New York : Academic Press
·     - Modern History Sourcebook : Summary of Wallerstein on Modern World System Theory. Retrieved on http://www.fordham.edu/HALSAII/MOD/Wallerstein.asp
·         Picture “ Modern World System Map” by www.cassian.memphis.edu
·         Picture “ Wallerstein’s World System Theory Model” by www.pinterest.com
·         Picture “ Immanuel Wallerstein” by www.changetimes.org
·         Picture “ Cities in Economic Expansion and Current Crisis of the Modern World System “ by www.lboro.ac.uk
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