Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System

by Giovanni Arrighi, Beverly Silver (Contributor)

Book by Arrighi, Giovanni

Genres: History, Sociology, Economics, Politics, Nonfiction, Philosophy

348 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1999

About the author

Giovanni Arrighi was Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. His books include The Long Twentieth Century, Adam Smith in Beijing, and, with Beverly Silver, Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System. His work has appeared in many publications, including New Left Review.

Reviews

[Ricardo Cebrián · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una gran introducción al concepto de Sistema Mundo, un ensayo que me abrió los ojos a otra forma de comprender la historia.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This alternative perspective on world history is prescient and welcome. It traces the rises and declines of 'hegemonic' powers, devoting serious attention to the transitions from Dutch to British to American 'hegemony' over the last 4 centuries or so. Published in 1999, the decline of US hegemony is convincingly forecast by examining and tracing historical patterns. Very generally, the transitions from Dutch to British, and then from British to American hegemony are united by the common feature of an economic transformation from normal manufacture and trade to 'high finance.' As manufacturing accounts for only a small percentage of American GDP, the US is now in the 'high finance' phase, and the challenge is to manage the inevitable decline with minimal proliferation of war and chaos. The history is largely 'Euro-centric,' but acknowledges the US as a 'center' of sorts. Well worth reading.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read most of the intro, and so far it seems like this book is just a much more accessible version of Arrighi's Long Twentieth Century.

[Douglas Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arrighi is the GOAT in Marxist economics. This book is somewhat of an extension of his previous book, (The Long 20th Century), which first explained how the rise of capital began and snaked around to different centers of the world.

This entry continues that explication from each hegemony transition into the next, but goes more into detail in 4 different areas: how the high finance landscape changed, how business structures developed, what the social developments throughout looked like and finally how the western capitalist hegemonies look like in the world historical context and where it is leading, China.

Even non-Marxists economists will find this book fascinating, as it was written in 1999, and its conclusions have been spot on, as we are now seeing in 2025, the effects of the Trump tariffs revealing much of what the book claims, that whatever political system arises, that the future of the global economy is centered in E Asia, and the dawn of western dominance is nigh. Economic planners of either socialist or capitalist countries would find this insight invaluable, as Marxist economic theory has been used by communists and capitalists alike with great success.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good as both a 101 and 201 primer on world-systems theory, arrighi is one of my favorites. history is interesting and the analytical frameworks are helpful, the latter being the book’s main focus and largest contribution. particularly useful for situating the intensification of u.s policing power within global, centuries-long geopolitical patterns—you’ll have to do some of that work yourself though, bc the book only tells you about the patterns. want to dig into more late-career arrighi stuff to see what he says about global warming.

[Edisom Rogerio A Hott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Publicado originalmente em 1999. Retomando o esquema interpretativo esboçado em "O Longo Século XX", esse livro propõe entender o período atual de instabilidade global com base em duas transições anteriores: da hegemonia holandesa para a britânica no século XVIII e da hegemonia britânica para a norte-americana do início do século XX.

[Gerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting perspective

[Giulia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo ho dovuto leggere per il corso di Relazioni Internazionali ma lo ho trovato interessante, mi ha chiarito un bel po' di cose!