Wallerstein's World Systems Theory Characteristics
Dependency theory suggests that core countries, which are rich, take resources from peripheral countries, which are poor. The rich continue to increase their wealth through this relationship, while the poor remain impoverished. World systems theory took the idea of core and peripheral countries and expanded it as follows:
- Core countries are wealthy, militarily strong, and hold significant social power and colonial power.
- Peripheral countries are poor, have exploitable resources, and do not possess great social stability or government.
- Semi-peripheral countries have some of the characteristics of core and peripheral countries.
- External areas are countries or regions that fall outside of the scope of world systems theory.
This is one example of a map of how countries relate to one another in world systems theory. However, different sociologists rank countries differently; no map is going to be a perfect representation of such complex economic systems.
It is also important to remember that countries' status in world systems theory are always changing. These changes are due to factors like military actions, geographic expansion, and changes in industrial production levels in a given country.
Core Countries
Core countries, according to world systems theory, hold a disproportionate amount of power on the world economic and social stage. They are capitalist countries that exploit peripheral countries for cheap labor and raw materials. Within core countries, the interests of a relatively small class of economically powerful people are the most important thing. Wallerstein argued that the first economic core was Western Europe, followed by the Britain, and finally by the United States today. Included among the many countries that are considered core countries today are:
- Australia
- United Kingdom
- Canada
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Japan
- United States
The majority of core countries are found in Europe, North America, and Oceania. Generally speaking, core countries import a lot more than they produce, and many have a colonial history of controlling other, poorer nations.
Peripheral Countries
Peripheral countries are on the opposite end of the economic scale to core countries. They are generally poor and must export their resources and labor to survive economically. They hold far less power on a global scale than their core counterparts. Rather than having an equitable relationship with core countries, peripheral countries and their people are largely exploited by core countries and do not substantially accrue wealth as a result of their economic relationships. Peripheral countries include, among many others:
- Afghanistan
- Argentina
- Bangladesh
- Cambodia
- Central African Republic
- Cuba
- Greece
- Philippines
- Zimbabwe
There are far more peripheral countries than there are core countries. Much of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South America are composed of peripheral countries. Many peripheral countries are or were previously colonized by core countries, further destabilizing them.
Semi-Peripheral Countries
Semi-peripheral countries are nations that hold some characteristics of core countries and some characteristics of peripheral countries. This means that while these countries often sell cheap labor and resources to core countries, they generally also have some economic control over other peripheral countries and may have growing power on the world stage. A key tenet of world systems theory is that power shifts over time: just because one country is at the core today does not mean that it always will be. There is a lot of debate about exactly which countries are semi-peripheral because of the ambiguity of this category, but some countries that are often considered semi-peripheral include:
- Brazil
- China
- India
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Taiwan
The status of semi-peripheral countries may be less stable than those in other categories and might change more rapidly as the world economy shifts.
External Areas
External areas are countries that do not participate in the capitalist dynamics that underpin world systems theory. Usually, this is because they are largely self-sufficient countries that produce their own food, use their own labor, and do not meaningfully exploit or defer to other countries. Russia is often cited as an external area, though not all sources agree on its status. It produces the majority of its own food and many of its own goods.
Examples of World Systems Theory
Wallerstein's theory can be applied to our world over the past few centuries. For example, in the medieval period, the Islamic Empire in the Middle East was the core of world power, particularly with respect to the Silk Roads. Power gradually shifted to parts of Europe like France and the Netherlands before shifting further west to Britain in the colonial age. The British Empire gradually declined as the United States rose in power throughout the nineteenth century. It can be argued that each of these cores (as well as other smaller cores) has exploited countries: the Islamic Empire exploited parts of Africa and Asia; European countries did the same, particularly in Africa. The United States exploits parts of Asia and South America, among other regions, today.
World Systems Theory Strengths and Weaknesses
World systems theory is a highly regarded sociological theory today. Some of its strengths as a theory include:
- A nuanced understanding of the shifting economic relationships between countries
- A strong critique of modernization theory that points out that impoverished countries rarely benefit from their economic relationships with core countries
- Flexibility in describing the world economy as cores and peripheries evolve
- The addition of semi-periphery countries and external areas to allow for more complexity in the way the world works
There have, however, been many critiques of world systems theory, including the following:
- It fails to fully account for the rise in globalization as a new phenomenon
- It fails to give enough credence to forces like social class
- It puts too much emphasis on economics rather than culture
These critiques are important to consider: while world systems theory is an effective way of understanding the world, it is not perfect. Wallerstein himself was aware of many of these critiques and acknowledged the validity of some of them.
World System Changes Over Time
We have already mentioned the fact that core countries change over time. So far, we have seen the major core of the world economy shifting west over the past thousand or so years. In the future, power will likely shift again. Many economists have talked about the potential for China to eventually overtake the United States as the primary core of the world economy as it shifts from the semi-periphery category to the core countries category. Some countries in Africa, especially places like Rwanda, South Sudan, and Ethiopia are quickly growing in GDP and may eventually become semi-periphery countries or even core countries with control over nations around them.
Criticisms of World Systems Theory
You can see some of the weaknesses of world systems theory above, but there are other critiques as well that all have different things to say about where world systems theory fails. These include:
- Globalization critique: World systems theory fails to take into account the force of globalization, instead presenting globalization as a new word for an old phenomenon that critics argue cannot be applied to the world in the 16th century.
- Positivist critique: The theory is too general in nature; the world's complex economic systems cannot be reduced to a mere four categories of countries.
- Marxist critique: World systems theory emphasizes economics over social class: core countries also have exploited classes of people that benefit very little from the economic power of their societies.
- State autonomist critique: This criticism argues that Wallerstein treats states and their interests too much like businesses. These critics argue that states are not corporations and that their place on the world stage is more complex than Wallerstein accounts for.
- Culturalist critique: The theory is insufficient in addressing the importance of culture in the shifting powers of the world, relying too much on decontextualized economic growth.
- Colonial critique: World systems theory recreates colonialist narratives rather than seeing countries in the global south as whole entities in their own right.
Lesson Summary
World systems theory was developed by Immanuel Wallerstein to explain the complex economic relationships that exist in our world. Wallerstein categorized countries as core countries, which exploit other countries for labor and resources; peripheral countries, which have cheap labor and are generally impoverished; semi-peripheral countries, which sometimes exploit other countries but are sometimes exploited themselves; and external states that operate outside of the world system. The world system changes as industrial expansion, military action, and geographic expansion alter countries' relationships to one another. World systems theory developed out of dependency theory but takes that idea further. While world systems theory has been widely regarded as a useful conceptualization of a complex system, it has received numerous critiques for the ways in which it fails to account for or outright disregards some elements of social and economic theory.
