Re: pie and getting the DOL straight (fwd)

I see that my comments on the work of Frank and Wallerstein have provoked a
rumble of dissent from Toronto.  I am sorry Professor Gunder Frank finds my
argument a string of "non-sequitirs".  I would be happy to discuss any of
them publically or privately should he be so inclined.

Let me be quite clear:  all of us who study international political
economy, whether from inside or outside the world-system tradition, owe an
intellectual debt to Professors Frank and Wallerstein.  We can agree or
disagree with the specifics of their analyses, but we must all acknowledge
that their work has sensitized our various disciplines to dynamics of the
world economy long ignored in social science.  In short, it is not my
intention to "bite the hand that has fed me" (and, in the case of Dr.
Gunder Frank, shown me personal kindness in the past).  Although I do not
affiliate with the world-system tradition as such, I hope my comments will
be taken as those of a sympathetic critic of WST rather than those of a
free-market ideologue.

Turning to the questions that have emerged over the last 48 hours or so:  I
think it is true to say that looked at from the point of view of the
world-system, there is no "exogenous growth" since by definition all growth
within the world-system is determined by the internal dynamics of the
system itself.
The question I was attempting to raise is whether or not the core states
themselves can grow on the basis of their internal dynamics.  World-system
theory clearly says no.  The argument I tried to make, on the basis of my
criticism of the notion of the declining rate of profit, was that there is
no adequate theory of why this must be the case.    


--

Jeffrey L. Beatty
Doctoral Student
Department of Political Science
The Ohio State University
2140 Derby Hall
154 North Oval Mall
Columbus, Ohio 43210

(o) 614/292-2880
(h) 614/688-0567

Email:  Beatty.4@osu.edu
___________________________________________________

"Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis."  
                         Ralph Waldo Emerson