Re: World Systems

>Can anyone explain world systems theory to me in brief

there are many different theories depending on what is to be explained.
there is a perspective that focusses on the whole system of important
interactions (trade, investment warfare and alliances, communications,
cultural contact and differences) including local, regional an
inter-regional. this is a different emphasis from approaches that see
societies as substantially independent systems of interaction.
consideration of intersocietal networks and structures conceptualizes
patterns and features of the whole system of interaction -- the
world-system. one important structural pattern is the core/periphery
hierarchy, a  feature of the whole system.  this does not require that
everything is determined by whole-system features or processes.

>or recommend some good books on the subject please.

best to start with Thomas R. Shannon, An Introduction to the
World-Systems Perspective. Westview 1996.

after that see:
Giovanni Arrighi, The Long Twentieth Century
Giovanni Arrighi and Beverly Silver, Chaos and Governance in the Modern
World-
System
Fernand Braudel, The Perspective of the World, Volume 3 of Capitalism
and Material Life
Christopher Chase-Dunn, Global Formation
Christopher Chase-Dunn and Thomas D. Hall, Rise and Demise
Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World-System, Volumes1-3.

chriscd