Capitalist World-Economy in the Longue Duree: Changing Modes of Global Distribution of Wealth, 1500-2008

• In Event: 552 - Section on Political Economy of the World-Systems Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 04. A Longitudinal Perspective of Global Political Economy

Abstract

This article presents an alternative perspective of the global distribution of wealth within capitalist world-economy over the longue durée. In stark contrast to the convergence of wealth predicted by modernization theory, the stable bimodal (core-periphery) structure predicted by dependency theory, or the stable trimodal (core-semiperiphery-periphery) structure defended by dominant versions of world-systems theory, this article demonstrates that the distribution of wealth in the world economy transformed with each successive world hegemonic cycle. Through an examination of global distribution of wealth from 1500 to 2008, this article shows that global distribution of wealth within capitalist world-economy has transformed from a unimodal distribution during the Dutch world-hegemony to a bimodal distribution during the British world-hegemony, to a trimodal distribution during the US world-hegemony, to the emergence of a quatromodal distribution in the early twenty-first century. While existing modes of wealth hierarchy remained stable during periods of world-hegemonies, they were dismantled and transformed during periods of systemic crisis and world-hegemonic transition, creating new forms of hierarchies.

Authors

• SAHAN SAVAS KARATASLI, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

• Sefika Kumral, Johns Hopkins University