World System History is a component of Encyclopedia of Social Sciences and Humanities in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The Theme on World System History presents the study of the history of the world system. World system history offers an array of tools with which to apprehend the future. This volume discuss the essential aspects such as World-Systems Analysis; Big History; Epistemology of World System History: Long-Term Processes and Cycles; One World System or Many: The Continuity Thesis in World System History; World Population History; States Systems and Universal Empires; The Silk Road: Afro-Eurasian Connectivity Across the Ages; Dark Ages in World System History; The Kondratieff Waves as Global Social Processes; Globalization in Historical Perspective; Emergence of a Global Polity; World Urbanization: The Role of Settlement Systems in Human Social Evolution; Democratization: The World-Wide Spread Of Democracy in The Modern Age; The Rise of Global Public Opinion; East Asia In the World System; Incorporating North America into the Eurasian World-System. This volume is aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College Students Educators, Professional Practitioners, Research Personnel and Policy Analysts, Managers, and Decision Makers, NGOs and GOs.

This controversial book challenges existing world-system theories, and the Marxist approach to capitalism and the modern world. It offers new theses on the cycle of world economy.

A John Hope Franklin Center Book.

"The Modern World System", Immanuel Wallerstein's influential multivolume reinterpretation of global history, traces the emergence and development of the modern world from the sixteenth century to the twentieth. -- From publisher's description.

"The Modern World System", Immanuel Wallerstein's influential multivolume reinterpretation of global history, traces the emergence and development of the modern world from the sixteenth century to the twentieth. -- From publisher's description.

Leading cultural theorists consider the meaning and implications of world-scale humanist scholarship by engaging with Immanuel Wallersteins world-systems analysis.

'This is an outstandingly good book, which succeeds on many different levels.The book is exceptionally well structured and well written. There is so much in this book for so many types of scholars of International Relations. I am certain that this book will be seen over time not only as one of the most intellectually impressive mergers of theory and history in the field, but also as a massive advance on US-style neo-realism. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, not least because I became fascinated with the argument, and found myself nodding in admiration as the authors pulled off the feat of bringing all the elements together into a powerful and intellectually impressive discussion of the types of international system found in world history. This is one of the most important books published in the last decade and for intellectual sophistication it leave neo-realism US-style standing, but also drowning.' International Affairs 76:4 (2000) 833-4.This book tells the story of mankinds evolution from a scattering of hunter-gatherer bands to todays integrated global international political economy. It outlines the concept of international systems as a useful framework for all those interested in a big picture understanding of the evolution of human society from earliest times to the present.