Book Review: Arrighi and Silver, Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System

Giovanni Arrighi and Beverly J. Silver.
Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999, 336 pp.
$Cdn $33.99 paper (0816631522), NPL cloth (0-8166-3151-4)

Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System examines the nature and pattern of hegemonic transitions in the making of the modern world-system. It continues earlier research on the ascent, maturation, and decline of hegemonic powers since the 15th century by the Research Working Group on Cyclical Rhythms and Secular Trends (1979) at the Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems and Civilizations, and the work of Immanuel Wallerstein (1984) on moments of hegemony. Whereas the earlier research focused on articulating hegemonic power and rivalry along Kondratieff cycles of economic expansion and stagnation, Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System focuses primarily on the politics of the world-economy during hegemonic transitions. The effort here is to compare prior periods of hegemonic transitions in order to understand and explain the present with an aim of predicting the future politics of the world-system. It does this via a historical examination of the transition from Dutch to British world hegemony in the 18th century and from British to U.S. world hegemony in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For Arrighi et al, the earlier hegemonic transitions from Dutch to British and from British to U.S. seem to resemble the present transitional period, and according to them, if the patterns and characteristics of these transitions are delineated, “ the global fog” shrouding us from an understanding of the tendencies of current state rivalries, the direction of the power of capital versus the state, the power of antisystemic movements, and the growing civilizational challenges in light of waning Western cultural domination can be lifted.

The first chapter addresses the issue of interstate relations and global power. Similarities between past periods of transition and the present one are delineated in terms of power rivalries, the emergence of new loci of power, and global financial expansions. The prior theoretical work of Arrighi (1994), appears in the background guiding the historical interpretation. The chapter also reveals that there is a significant difference between the current transitional period and those of the past, namely the growing bifurcation between global military power (U.S.) and global financial power (East Asia).

Chapter two addresses the question of the power of capital versus the state in an era of globalization. Using past histories of business enterprises as a guide, the chapter delineates the similarities and differences between the trading companies of the Dutch and the British, the family owned companies of the 19th century, and U.S. transnationals of the 20th century. This accounting of the relations between capital and state throughout the last five hundred years of world history shows that the business enterprise has been transforming to one which is both more dependent on and more subversive of the hegemonic state.

In the third chapter, the focus shifts to the conditions of subordinate groups during eras of hegemonic transitions. Hegemonic periods are characterized by expansion in production and trade and the establishment of social compacts between elites and subordinate groups; during hegemonic transitions the opposite occurs. In the latter, the depressed economic environment is accompanied by the prevalence of social and state conflicts, and increased interstate and inter-business competition to maintain political and market advantages. We also find recurring system-wide financial expansion leading to increased polarization in the distribution of wealth, the loss of power and privileges of the middle class, and the emergence of other subordinate groups along gender and ethnic lines. By far this chapter highlights best the intentions of the book: to delineate the past in order to understand and explain the present and the future.

The fourth chapter deals with Western civilizational hegemony and its domination of the East since the 16th century. This chapter shows that Western dominance in Asia was based overwhelmingly on coercion rather than consent. The extensive trade networks in Asia prior to the arrival of Western merchants underscore the size and scale of this Asian economy which the West inserted via force and political manipulation. Western colonialism could never fully disarticulate the historical embeddedness of the East Asian trade networks nor the civilizational basis that underline the trading relationships. In the current transitional period, it is very probable that the center of the world economy could be shifting back to the East in light of the recent economic transformations.

In the context of debates over the future tendencies of the world economy in an era of rapid globalization, this book is a timely reminder that the current conjuncture has been shaped by structures and processes that have been in play for at least the last four hundred years. With the thematics deciphered and delineated, some. Unlike other studies utilizing the world-systems perspective that offer an interpretation of past events as an alternative to other received accounts of world history, there is an effort here to go further and provide historical explanations and propositions to project likely outcomes for the future. To this extent, the explanatory power of the world-systems perspective is being put to the test. Only future events will confirm or deny the trends identified in the five propositions.

This book has several limitations. First, in spite of the constant reference to systems transition, there is little or no problematization of whether the current era may be witnessing an ongoing systems reorganization that might change the logic of systems functioning. The globalization processes currently underway might very well change qualitatively some of the operating logics of the system, possibly undermining the logic of the propositions offered in the concluding chapter.

Second, the analysis undertaken in this book is solely anthropocentric, based on political, economic, and social factors leading to patterns and processes that recur through history. There is no reference to the dimension of the environment in relation to global transformation. In an era of increasing global concern and awareness of the finite nature of natural resources, and the continued susceptibility of the human species to climatological changes and diseases despite various scientific and technological advances, we need to consider that besides social relations and social structures, the basis of human reproduction includes our relationships with the non-human world (ecology). In spite of constant references to the works of Fernand Braudel, the authors never considered the totality of Braudel’s analysis. For Braudel, natural surroundings, physical landscape, and climatological rhythms were elements that condition social relations and social institutions of the world-economy. For Braudel (1972:20), "man in his relationship to the environment” was a level with a historical duration distinguished from and related to social history, which comprises of economic systems, states, societies, and civilizations. These two levels affect the third, traditional history or "l'historie evenementielle" which is about people and events. For example, if the authors had considered the environment as a factor, the explanation for Dutch dominance and challenge to Iberian seapower could not just rely on the fact that the Dutch had a long seafaring tradition and later developed technological virtuosity in shipbuilding. The mastery of the high seas by the Dutch, and their efficiency in shipbuilding was a consequence of the transfer of Venetian capital and shipbuilding to the Dutch at a time when the Venetians were encountering wood scarcity due to the depletion of their forested areas. In this regard, the environment was a factor in conditioning the rise and fall of political powers. Along these lines, the current dire projection of global warming impacting on production processes and economic life will severely restrain the future expansion of the world economy. Such trends will condition the propositions put forth by Arrighi and Silver in the concluding chapter. The denial of the environmental dimension is reflected further by the lack of reference to the environmental movement as a factor in future overall social conflicts and tension (although others have clearly identified it as one anti-systemic movement for the 21st century).

Third, in an effort to identify the next hegemonic power along nation-state centric lines, the book assumes that history repeats itself through recurring patterns. The possibility of East Asia as the next hegemon is declared without much substantive data and information provided. China’s 19th century linkage with the rest of Asia via a merchant/coolie diaspora is delineated as a factor in the renaissance of Chinese capitalist diaspora in the late 20th century in Asia, but this has to be placed within a longer historical time frame than just a few hundred years. For centuries prior to the 19th century, even as early as the 5th century AD, there were extensive trading relations between China and the rest of Asia. Merchant diasporas abounded in the ports of Asia and South China. This leads one to wonder about the evolution of the world economy and the centrality of the world system that Arrighi and Silver have periodized in this book.

Despite the above limitations, the book offers a compelling alternate world-historical interpretation of political, social and economic structures and processes in the making of the modern world. It is a valuable and timely addition to the ongoing debate on the future of the world economy in an era of political and economic uncertainties.

References

Arrighi, Giovanni. 1994. The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power and the Origin of Our Times. London: Verso.
Braudel, Fernand. 1972 The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the age of Philip II Vol. 1 London: Fontana.
Research Working Group. 1979. “Cyclical Rhythms and Secular Trends of the Capitalist World- Economy: Some Premises, Hypotheses and Questions.” Review 2, no. 4:483–500.
Wallerstein, Immanuel. 1984. The Politics of the World-Economy: The States, the Movements and the Civilizations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sing C. Chew
Department of Sociology
California State University-Humboldt
chews@axe.humboldt.edu



		Canadian Journal of Sociology Online May-June 2001 Giovanni Arrighi and Beverly J. Silver. Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999, 336 pp. $Cdn $33.99 paper (0816631522), NPL cloth (0-8166-3151-4) Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System examines the nature and pattern of hegemonic transitions in the making of the modern world-system. It continues earlier research on the ascent, maturation, and decline of hegemonic powers since the 15th century by the Research Working Group on Cyclical Rhythms and Secular Trends (1979) at the Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems and Civilizations, and the work of Immanuel Wallerstein (1984) on moments of hegemony. Whereas the earlier research focused on articulating hegemonic power and rivalry along Kondratieff cycles of economic expansion and stagnation, Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System focuses primarily on the politics of the world-economy during hegemonic transitions. The effort here is to compare prior periods of hegemonic transitions in order to understand and explain the present with an aim of predicting the future politics of the world-system. It does this via a historical examination of the transition from Dutch to British world hegemony in the 18th century and from British to U.S. world hegemony in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For Arrighi et al, the earlier hegemonic transitions from Dutch to British and from British to U.S. seem to resemble the present transitional period, and according to them, if the patterns and characteristics of these transitions are delineated, “ the global fog” shrouding us from an understanding of the tendencies of current state rivalries, the direction of the power of capital versus the state, the power of antisystemic movements, and the growing civilizational challenges in light of waning Western cultural domination can be lifted. The first chapter addresses the issue of interstate relations and global power. Similarities between past periods of transition and the present one are delineated in terms of power rivalries, the emergence of new loci of power, and global financial expansions. The prior theoretical work of Arrighi (1994), appears in the background guiding the historical interpretation. The chapter also reveals that there is a significant difference between the current transitional period and those of the past, namely the growing bifurcation between global military power (U.S.) and global financial power (East Asia). Chapter two addresses the question of the power of capital versus the state in an era of globalization. Using past histories of business enterprises as a guide, the chapter delineates the similarities and differences between the trading companies of the Dutch and the British, the family owned companies of the 19th century, and U.S. transnationals of the 20th century. This accounting of the relations between capital and state throughout the last five hundred years of world history shows that the business enterprise has been transforming to one which is both more dependent on and more subversive of the hegemonic state. In the third chapter, the focus shifts to the conditions of subordinate groups during eras of hegemonic transitions. Hegemonic periods are characterized by expansion in production and trade and the establishment of social compacts between elites and subordinate groups; during hegemonic transitions the opposite occurs. In the latter, the depressed economic environment is accompanied by the prevalence of social and state conflicts, and increased interstate and inter-business competition to maintain political and market advantages. We also find recurring system-wide financial expansion leading to increased polarization in the distribution of wealth, the loss of power and privileges of the middle class, and the emergence of other subordinate groups along gender and ethnic lines. By far this chapter highlights best the intentions of the book: to delineate the past in order to understand and explain the present and the future. The fourth chapter deals with Western civilizational hegemony and its domination of the East since the 16th century. This chapter shows that Western dominance in Asia was based overwhelmingly on coercion rather than consent. The extensive trade networks in Asia prior to the arrival of Western merchants underscore the size and scale of this Asian economy which the West inserted via force and political manipulation. Western colonialism could never fully disarticulate the historical embeddedness of the East Asian trade networks nor the civilizational basis that underline the trading relationships. In the current transitional period, it is very probable that the center of the world economy could be shifting back to the East in light of the recent economic transformations. In the context of debates over the future tendencies of the world economy in an era of rapid globalization, this book is a timely reminder that the current conjuncture has been shaped by structures and processes that have been in play for at least the last four hundred years. With the thematics deciphered and delineated, some. Unlike other studies utilizing the world-systems perspective that offer an interpretation of past events as an alternative to other received accounts of world history, there is an effort here to go further and provide historical explanations and propositions to project likely outcomes for the future. To this extent, the explanatory power of the world-systems perspective is being put to the test. Only future events will confirm or deny the trends identified in the five propositions. This book has several limitations. First, in spite of the constant reference to systems transition, there is little or no problematization of whether the current era may be witnessing an ongoing systems reorganization that might change the logic of systems functioning. The globalization processes currently underway might very well change qualitatively some of the operating logics of the system, possibly undermining the logic of the propositions offered in the concluding chapter. Second, the analysis undertaken in this book is solely anthropocentric, based on political, economic, and social factors leading to patterns and processes that recur through history. There is no reference to the dimension of the environment in relation to global transformation. In an era of increasing global concern and awareness of the finite nature of natural resources, and the continued susceptibility of the human species to climatological changes and diseases despite various scientific and technological advances, we need to consider that besides social relations and social structures, the basis of human reproduction includes our relationships with the non-human world (ecology). In spite of constant references to the works of Fernand Braudel, the authors never considered the totality of Braudel’s analysis. For Braudel, natural surroundings, physical landscape, and climatological rhythms were elements that condition social relations and social institutions of the world-economy. For Braudel (1972:20), "man in his relationship to the environment” was a level with a historical duration distinguished from and related to social history, which comprises of economic systems, states, societies, and civilizations. These two levels affect the third, traditional history or "l'historie evenementielle" which is about people and events. For example, if the authors had considered the environment as a factor, the explanation for Dutch dominance and challenge to Iberian seapower could not just rely on the fact that the Dutch had a long seafaring tradition and later developed technological virtuosity in shipbuilding. The mastery of the high seas by the Dutch, and their efficiency in shipbuilding was a consequence of the transfer of Venetian capital and shipbuilding to the Dutch at a time when the Venetians were encountering wood scarcity due to the depletion of their forested areas. In this regard, the environment was a factor in conditioning the rise and fall of political powers. Along these lines, the current dire projection of global warming impacting on production processes and economic life will severely restrain the future expansion of the world economy. Such trends will condition the propositions put forth by Arrighi and Silver in the concluding chapter. The denial of the environmental dimension is reflected further by the lack of reference to the environmental movement as a factor in future overall social conflicts and tension (although others have clearly identified it as one anti-systemic movement for the 21st century). Third, in an effort to identify the next hegemonic power along nation-state centric lines, the book assumes that history repeats itself through recurring patterns. The possibility of East Asia as the next hegemon is declared without much substantive data and information provided. China’s 19th century linkage with the rest of Asia via a merchant/coolie diaspora is delineated as a factor in the renaissance of Chinese capitalist diaspora in the late 20th century in Asia, but this has to be placed within a longer historical time frame than just a few hundred years. For centuries prior to the 19th century, even as early as the 5th century AD, there were extensive trading relations between China and the rest of Asia. Merchant diasporas abounded in the ports of Asia and South China. This leads one to wonder about the evolution of the world economy and the centrality of the world system that Arrighi and Silver have periodized in this book. Despite the above limitations, the book offers a compelling alternate world-historical interpretation of political, social and economic structures and processes in the making of the modern world. It is a valuable and timely addition to the ongoing debate on the future of the world economy in an era of political and economic uncertainties. References Arrighi, Giovanni. 1994. The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power and the Origin of Our Times. London: Verso. Braudel, Fernand. 1972 The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the age of Philip II Vol. 1 London: Fontana. Research Working Group. 1979. “Cyclical Rhythms and Secular Trends of the Capitalist World- Economy: Some Premises, Hypotheses and Questions.” Review 2, no. 4:483–500. Wallerstein, Immanuel. 1984. The Politics of the World-Economy: The States, the Movements and the Civilizations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sing C. Chew Department of Sociology California State University-Humboldt chews@axe.humboldt.edu http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/cjscopy/reviews/chaos.html June 2001 © CJS Online