Immanuel Wallerstein » Books

European Universalism: The Rhetoric of Power

admin — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 16:00:48 +0000

Ever since the Enlightenment, Western intervention around the world has been justified by appeals to notions of civilization, development, and progress. The assumption has been that such ideas are universal, encrusted in natural law. But, as Immanuel Wallerstein argues in this short and elegant philippic, these concepts are, in fact, not global. Rather, their genesis is firmly rooted in European thought and their primary function has been to provide justification for powerful states to impose their will against the weak under the smoke screen of what is supposed to be both beneficial to humankind and historically inevitable.

With great acuity Wallerstein draws together discussions of the idea of orientalism, the right to intervene, and the triumph of science over the humanities to explain how strategies designed to promote particular Western interests have acquired an all-inclusive patina.

Wallerstein concludes by advocating a true universalism that will allow critical appraisal of all justifications for intervention by the powerful against the weak. At a time when such intervention—in the name of democracy and human rights—has returned to the center stage of world politics, his treatise is both relevant and compelling.

Africa, The Politics of Independence and Unity

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 16:00:33 +0000

"The treatment of political problems faced by the new nations of Africa is excellent... The volume is highly recommended as an excellent introduction to a broad, difficult subject." American Sociological Review "Wallerstein views the movement towards African unity in terms of the interaction and conflict... [I]t is an exciting story, which Wallerstein tells very well indeed." (Journal of Modern African Studies)

The Modern World System in the Longue Duree

admin — Fri, 01 Apr 2005 16:00:43 +0000

In this book prominent scholars from around the world debate two major themes: the past and future of the capitalist world-economy, and the ways in which a capitalist economy shapes Western research, the academy, and broader knowledge structures. Putting the two themes together, they also analyze the relationship between scholarship and the rest of the world. The book is published to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Fernand Braudel Center.

Contributors are Samir Amin, Christopher Chase-Dunn, Bart Tromp,. Claudia von Werlhof, Giovanni Arrighi, Pablo Gonzalez-Casanova, Marcel van der Linden, Randall Collins, Mahm ood Mamdani, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Janet Abu-Lughod, Maurice Aymard, and Immanuel Wallerstein.

Overcoming the Two Cultures: Science versus the Humanities in the Modern World-System

admin — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 16:00:26 +0000

World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 16:00:10 +0000

In World-Systems Analysis, Immanuel Wallerstein provides a concise and accessible introduction to the comprehensive approach that he pioneered thirty years ago to understanding the history and development of the modern world. Since Wallerstein first developed world-systems analysis, it has become a widely utilized methodology within the historical social sciences and a common point of reference in discussions of globalization.

Alternatives: The United States Confronts the World

admin — Thu, 01 Jul 2004 16:00:58 +0000

Immanuel Wallerstein draws on a lifetime of study of long-term historical change to shed light in his newest book on the consequences of the recent, significant turn in US foreign and economic policies. Alternatives shows how the U.S. has been in decline since the 1970s and how these longer trends dovetail with current Bush administration policies, which Wallerstein describes as an attempt to reverse the decline in ways that are disastrous to the future of the country and the world.

Wallerstein suggests that a threshold has been crossed that will make it difficult for future presidents to practice the kind of ‘soft’ multilateralism in foreign policy American presidents have used in the past. They will be less able to maintain effective alliances. Wallerstein also shows, surprisingly, why ‘globalization’ already is dead, especially in terms of the United States’ ability to dominate economically in the manner that it has since WWII. He calls for a major revision of U.S. policies – and not an attempt merely to return to the pre-Bush foreign policy. Wallerstein’s visionary book speaks to the challenges the U.S. must face if it is to play a meaningful and progressive role in the world-system.

The Uncertainties of Knowledge

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The Uncertainties of Knowledge extends Immanuel Wallerstein's decade-long work of elucidating the crisis of knowledge in current intellectual thought. He argues that the disciplinary divisions of academia have trapped us in a paradigm that assumes knowledge is a certainty and that it can help us explain the social world. This is wrong, he suggests. Instead, Wallerstein offers a new conception of the social sciences, one whose methodology allows for uncertainties.

The Decline of American Power: The U.S. in a Chaotic World

admin — Tue, 01 Jul 2003 16:00:36 +0000

The United States in decline? Its admirers and detractors alike claim the opposite: that America is now in a position of unprecedented global supremacy. But in fact, Immanuel Wallerstein argues, a more nuanced evaluation of recent history reveals that America has been fading as a global power since the end of the Vietnam War, and, in the long term, its response to the terrorist attacks of September 11 may well hasten that decline.

The World We Are Entering 2000-2050

admin — Tue, 18 Mar 2003 16:00:34 +0000

Unthinking Social Science: The Limits of Nineteenth-Century Paradigms (Second Edition)

admin — Sun, 01 Jul 2001 16:00:59 +0000

In this, new edition of a classic work—now with a new preface—on the roots of social scientific thinking, Immanuel Wallerstein develops a thorough-going critique of the legacy of nineteenth-century social science for social thought in the new millennium. We have to "unthink"—radically revise and discard—many of the presumptions that still remain the foundation of dominant perspectives today.