Interstate system (world-systems theory)
The interstate system is a concept used within
Concepts
Development of an interstate system
To Wallerstein, there were no concrete rules about what exactly constitutes an individual state beyond this, as there were so many exceptions to various indicators of statehood. Juridical sovereignty could range from total to nil, as could the state's ability to impose decisions, project power, or control the flows of capital, commodities and labor. There were also no clear rules about which group controlled the state, as various groups located inside, outside, and across the states’ frontiers could seek to increase or decrease state power in order to better profit from a world-economy.[4]
While on the level of individual states, almost nothing remained so stable as to assist with a definition of statehood, Wallerstein claimed that the "relative power continuum of stronger and weaker states has remained relatively unchanged over 400-odd years." While
The ideology of the interstate system is sovereign equality, and while the system generally presents a set of constraints on the power of individual states, states within the system are "neither sovereign nor equal." Not only do strong states impose their will on weak states, strong states also impose limitations upon other strong states, and tend to seek strengthened international rules, since enforcing consequences for broken rules can be highly beneficial and confer comparative advantages.[6]
Relationship to nation and class
Wallerstein notes that class conflict within the context of an interstate system tends to take the form of creating institutions to affect state decisions, and that these institutions tend to be created within the boundaries of the state, and with a specific national scope. This has the effect of adding to the definiteness of state structures, and giving a national character to class conflict.[7][8]
Both the proletariat and bourgeoisie can find benefits and drawbacks to defining themselves as "world classes." For example, the bourgeoisie has an interest in defining itself as a world class to overcome national barriers to trade, but also has an interest in tying itself to various state machineries to gain comparative advantages and monopoly privileges. Likewise the proletariat has an interest in uniting on a world scale to better combat internationally mobile capital, however the mechanisms most readily available for improving local conditions exist in state-based organizations. The result is that both classes express consciousness at a level which does not reflect their economic role within a world-economy. For this reason, class conflict is often expressed in other social terms, such as through bourgeois or revolutionary nationalism.[9][8]
Role in hegemonies and liberalism
While Wallerstein said that "[o]mnipotence does not exist within the interstate system," he did note that in "rare and unstable" instances, states could aspire to a hegemony over the world system. This generally requires a combined agro-industrial, commercial, and financial edge over their rivals, which has only been achieved by the Dutch Republic (1620–1672), the United Kingdom (1815–1873), and the United States (1945–1967). Such hegemonies coincide with expansions and contractions in the world-economy, which Wallerstein explained through Kondratiev waves.[10]
Once a hegemon has achieved control over the interstate system, they assume world "responsibilities" to maintain the interstate system, restricting conflicts between entrepreneurial, bureaucratic and working class strata by exercising power in a "liberal" form. This takes the form of a greater enforcement of interstate rules to maintain liberal norms, as well as the diplomatic, military, political, ideological, and cultural power of the hegemon. This delegitimizes the efforts of other state machineries to act against the hegemonic power, but is also self-defeating, in that it promotes the spread of technological expertise to other powers, and rising wages in the hegemon tends to decrease the competitiveness of its labor power.[11]
Role in state socialist economies
World-systems theorists have used the interstate system to explain the perceived failures of the
Criticism
Wallerstein's use of the interstate system to explain international relations was criticised by a number of
See also
References
- ISBN 9780521277600.
- ^ Chase-Dunn, C. (2001). World-Systems Theorizing. Handbook of Sociological Theory. https://irows.ucr.edu/cd/theory/wst1.htm Archived 2020-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Wallerstein. The Politics of the World-Economy. p. 29.
- ^ Wallerstein. The Politics of the World-Economy. p. 30.
- ^ Wallerstein. The Politics of the World-Economy. pp. 30–31.
- ^ Wallerstein. The Politics of the World-Economy. pp. 33–34.
- ^ Wallerstein. The Politics of the World-Economy. p. 34.
- ^ S2CID 143591971. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ Wallerstein. The Politics of the World-Economy. pp. 34–36.
- ^ Wallerstein. The Politics of the World-Economy. pp. 38–46.
- ^ Wallerstein. The Politics of the World-Economy. pp. 44–45.
- ^ JSTOR 2600209. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ Wallerstein. The Politics of the World-Economy. p. 33.
- ^ Wallerstein. The Politics of the World-Economy. p. 7.
- JSTOR 2600688. Retrieved 24 August 2021.