Re: pie and getting the DOL straight (fwd)

At 09:55 AM 6/2/99 -0700, you wrote:
>I don't understand why you continue to use the term "internal dynamics" (of
>any part of the system) after just recognizing that all change is
>"endogenous."  This means, to repeat repeatedly, that change in any part is
>a consequence of change throughout the whole, including that part.  And
>again, the basis for this argument is the empirical historical
>interrelations of the part through the division of labor and the interstate
>structure that the DOL spans.  This is the reason that your argument is a
>non-starter.  An argument similar to yours was made by Stern but with
>reference to the periphery, which Wallerstein demolished in an interesting
>debate.
>
>> 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.
>
>
>
>

The reason, very simply, is that if there is no satisfactory answer to the
question of why endogenous growth in the core is not possible, world-system
theory itself is a non-starter.  If endogenous growth in the core _is_
possible, the core need not exploit the periphery (it is logically possible
that it _might_ do so, but there would be no necessity of its doing so).

I would be happy to see a citation of the debate you mention.

 
--

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."  
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