Spiral, Chapters 5 - 6 (end)

This is the conclusion of the proletarian (executive) summary of the Spiral
(Boswell/Chase-Dunn), which was originally requested by a wsn member who,
due to unequal exchange in the world-system, was not anywhere near a copy of
the book.

Chapters 5 and 6 deal with the future -- i.e., from historical sociology
(chapters 1-4) to utopia (chapters 5 - 6), or, at least, beyond the Cold
War. Here the authors prove that they know history, but are not prisoners of
history.

Chapter 5   "Getting Past the Post"

summary (provided by the authors on p. 15):

"...we explore how world socialism might be realized (Chapter 5). ... The
Left has been left in a postindustrial, postmodern fog without a vision of
what is ahead, only a strong conviction that it will be different from what
has passed." The chapter discusses, in some detail, the ideas of two
socialists -- and, this is noteworthy, not the usual two dead socialists,
but two living socialists. "We examine two such visions: Warren Wagar's
utopian vision of a world commonwealth and John Roemer's analytic vision of
market socialism. Then we combine elements of both to offer our own portrait
of market socialism on a world scale."

Chapter 6   "The Future of the World-System"

summary (provided by the authors on p. 15-16):

"Finally, we turn back to the future (Chapter 6). Changes in world
capitalist production ... reveal the impotence of any state, including any
communist state, to fully control its domestic portion of the world economy.
... The upsurge in capital mobility and interdependence, while lessening the
importance of national states, is increasing the importance of, and benefits
from, interstate authority, choking off capital's own escape route from
political authority. ...
      The world capitalist system emerges from this presentation as a single
world economy with an emerging global polity. With the increasing
development of global intrastate institutions comes a rapid rate in the
transnational politics of world governance. We pay particular attention to
transnational labor movements, as labor has always been the prime mover in
major social transformations. The combination of structural constants,
cycles, and trends produces a model of world-system structure that is
reproducing its basic features while growing and intensifying. For socialism
to transform capitalism, it too must be a global system, one that embraces
worldwide democracy."

... and from page 245  the three last sentences of the book:

"The force of the push depends on the extent that we can organize globally.
While the probability of such a development in the next fifty years may not
be high, it is more than just possible. It is a history we can choose to
make."

These are the summaries for chapters 5 - 6 in the authors' own words.

With regards,
Gert Kohler
Oakville, Canada