World-Systems Theory and the Systemic Crisis of Capitalism

We can assert with confidence that the present system cannot survive. The system that Prof. Immanuel Wallerstein is referring to is the modern world-system. In his multi-volume analysis The Modern World-System and innumerable complementary articles and books Wallerstein discusses the origin, trajectory and imminent downfall of capitalism from a truly global perspective. Almost marginalized by critics, academic interest in world-systems theory, especially in the assertion of capitalism s impending end, rekindled after the international financial crisis wreaked havoc in the world economy, shattering the foundations of neo-liberalism. The author, Lucas M. Ullrich, first gives an introduction to the world-systems theory of Prof. Immanuel Wallerstein (also known as world-systems analysis) and its constituting elements. Subsequently, he summarizes the arguments of the great body of critical literature, which The Modern World-System has sparked since its publication in 1974. The book concludes with a detailed discussion of the alleged crisis of capitalism and the transition to a new system.