Wallerstein's System translate by ChatGPT 3.5 

In the first translated volume of his main work, Wallerstein focuses on the analysis of the "long 16th century (1450-1640)" historical turning point and the emergence of capitalism.

His methodological starting point is the conception preceding the analysis of facts (see world system). The examination of a system can only be done through a unified interdisciplinary approach to the social sciences. Multidisciplinary research according to different branches of science can be applied to the units of organization.

Wallerstein created a macroeconomic, comparative-type theory of development. Examining the changes of individual countries alone is insufficient because the world has formed a comprehensive system since the 16th century, which does not necessarily imply political integration. His theory aligns with dependency and contemporary globalization theories.

The world system is a social system with boundaries, structures, and subgroups. The system is shaped by conflicting forces: tensions within it hold it together and break it apart as each group seeks ways to transform the world system to its advantage.

Before the rise of Europe, systems existed:

World empires: within them existed a political system (China, Roman Empire, Latin American empires), but these were not connected and had no knowledge of each other. The center-periphery division can be applied to this period as well: in Rome, Italy can be considered the center, and the provinces the periphery. World economies: systems lacking a unified political system, each of which either fell apart or turned into an empire. Trade was limited to luxury goods, and the limited capital accumulated was insufficient for political stabilization. A unified world economy could only emerge when transportation and communication possibilities allowed it. This happened as a consequence of the crisis of feudalism: the solution to the crisis (famines, epidemics, wars, peasant movements) was geographical expansion, the establishment of nation-states, and global division of labor.

After Columbus's exploratory journey, with the beginning of the looting of the New World and the exploitation of its population, the world economic system was formed, which first encapsulated the world as a single world system. The system is based on a market economy, characterized by global economic integration and unlimited capital accumulation. Capitalism emerged simultaneously in the 16th-17th centuries, and since then, only expansion and cyclical patterns have been observed.

The modern world system is peculiar in that it has existed as a world economy for 500 years. The world system, simplified, is the system of global division of labor, an economic unit through the network of production and exchange, but not a political unit due to the existence of cultural subsystems. Its economic organization (capitalism) was able to develop because there were not just one but a multitude of political systems within it. In the 15th century, there was not much difference between regions; in the 16th century, a significant polarization occurred, resulting in an unequal system.

Features of the world system:

Economic unity, not political; economic decisions are global, while political decisions happen in smaller units, nation-states. Global division of labor exists; production, trade, and labor are closely connected, and cross-border trade networks operate. The main engine of the system is unlimited capital accumulation, leading to competition between states for markets, raw materials, and labor. Expansion leads to the inclusion of not yet integrated territories; this process has long been completed. Due to the unevenness of expansion, different zones and subsystems of various developments emerge within the world system. Competition leads to crises in the system, characterized by alternating waves of stagnation and dynamic development; every crisis has led to a transformation of the system. The system's dynamics are driven by its internal contradictions, primarily the pursuit of capitalists for profit, investment, development, and monopolistic positions, as well as the aspirations of workers and employees for higher wages. Stages of the world system's development:

1450-1640 (origin) 1640-1815 (consolidation) 1815-1917 (expansion) 1917- (consolidation)