The structural crisis of the world-system

The unfolding real possibilities for world peace and prosperity

     In seven recent commentaries, I have reviewed the historical development of the modern world-system and the capitalist world economy; the emergence of twentieth century imperialism as a new form of colonialist domination; the fall of imperialism into decadence during the last forty-five years; and the resurgence of the Third World during the last thirty years, seeking to construct a more just pluripolar world-system.  In these commentaries, we have seen that conquest has been central in human history for the past 5,000 years and that conquest often has provided the foundation for economic development and civilization (see “Conquest in human history: On the dialectic of domination and development,” April 4, 2023).  We have seen that the Islamic conquests of advanced empires stretching from Spain in the west to India in the east during the period 622-675 built upon the previous achievements of said empires, forging transcultural integration that was the basis for an Islamic civiliz…