scholarly journals Moving toward Theory for the 21st Century: The Centrality of Nonwestern Semiperipheries to World Ethnic/Racial Inequality

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 399-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilma A. Dunaway ◽  
Donald A. Clelland

While there has been much attention to the economic, political, and transformative potential of the semiperiphery, scholars have failed to explore the ways in which this zone of the world-system causes, contributes to, and exacerbates world ethnic/racial inequality. By 2015, a majority of the world’s population is concentrated in 41 nonwestern semiperipheries that generate 40 percent of the world Gross Domestic Product. For those reasons, this essay decenters analysis of global ethnic/racial inequality by bringing the nonwestern semiperiphery to the foreground. Part I examines the ascent of nonwestern semiperipheries over the last half century, calling into question the popular “global apartheid model” which posits “white supremacy” as the singular cause of global ethnic/racial inequality. In Part II, we conceptualize, and present empirical data to support, ten conjunctures between the nonwestern semiperipheries and world ethnic/racial inequality. Part III offers a “theoretical retrenchment” in which we call for new approaches that bring the nonwestern semiperiphery to the foreground of theory and research about global ethnic/racial inequality. We argue that future theory building must pay particular attention to the rise of the Asian semiperiphery where two-fifths of world population is concentrated. Drawing upon previous world-systems research, we aggregate and update lists of countries in the core, semiperiphery and periphery in 1960, 1980 and 2015. 

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 465-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuela Boatca

While I agree, and have previously argued myself that closer attention should be paid to semiperipheries in terms of their transformative potential, I consider the claim that nonwestern semiperipheries exacerbate and even cause racial/ethnic inequality misleading. In the following, I thus want to caution against what I think are three weak links in the authors’ argument: mistaking visibility for causation, conflating the concept of race with the reality of racism (and its many historical and geopolitical configurations), as well as throwing the baby (white supremacy) out with the bathwater (Western knowledge).I will limit my comments to two aspects. The first one is methodological and concerns the unclear unit of analysis that underlies the authors’ claim for the centrality of non-Western semiperipheries to ethnic/racial inequality. The second aspect is more substantive and targets the relationship between racism and the emergence, functioning, and reproduction of the modern/colonial world system.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 499-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Saggioro Garcia

What has historically been the role of the nonwestern semiperiphery (what was it expected to do and what did it really do) and how has this role changed in recent years? In their article “Moving toward Theory for the 21st Century: The Centrality of Nonwestern Semiperiphery to World Ethnic/Racial Inequality”, Wilma Dunaway and Donald Clelland provide important contributions to the efforts to rethink global inequalities and the potential to transform the capitalist world-system. Presenting a wealth of data compiled in graphs and tables, the article aims to decenter analysis of global ethnic/racial inequality by bringing the nonwestern semiperiphery to the foreground. In their examination of the rise of the nonwestern semiperiphery, the authors question the popular “global apartheid model”, which identifies “white supremacy” as the sole cause of global ethnic/racial inequality. Their goal is to demonstrate that the nonwestern semiperiphery intensifies and exacerbates ethnic and racial inequalities in the world further by adopting political and economic mechanisms to exploit territories and workers both within and beyond their borders.


2019 ◽  
pp. 500-514
Author(s):  
Mohammed Abdul Karim Al-Banna ◽  
Ian Michael

The chapter investigates the role Zakat (alms giving) in eradicating poverty around the world. It (Zakat) is one of the five main pillars of Islam; it is the practice of charitable giving by Muslims based on accumulated wealth and is expected to be paid by all practicing Muslims having the financial means. As part of the study, a questionnaire that consisted of five questions to enquire about how Zakat can eradicate poverty was administered to 200 Muslim people living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Further, the questions were designed targeting the core goals of a Zakat institution that also reflected the Muslims psychometric behavioural aspects. Islam has 1.57 billion followers, making up over 23 percent of the world population (Pew Research, 2011). With such a vast population, the role of Zakat in alleviating poverty is an achievable objective.


Author(s):  
Mohammed Abdul Karim Al-Banna ◽  
Ian Michael

The chapter investigates the role Zakat (alms giving) in eradicating poverty around the world. It (Zakat) is one of the five main pillars of Islam; it is the practice of charitable giving by Muslims based on accumulated wealth and is expected to be paid by all practicing Muslims having the financial means. As part of the study, a questionnaire that consisted of five questions to enquire about how Zakat can eradicate poverty was administered to 200 Muslim people living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Further, the questions were designed targeting the core goals of a Zakat institution that also reflected the Muslims psychometric behavioural aspects. Islam has 1.57 billion followers, making up over 23 percent of the world population (Pew Research, 2011). With such a vast population, the role of Zakat in alleviating poverty is an achievable objective.


2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Kwon ◽  
Ellen Reese ◽  
Kadambari Anantram

This article examines, through a quantitative analysis of survey data, the extent to which union members and labor activists attending the World Social Forum from different world system zones vary in their political goals and activities. Consistent with world systems theory, we find that labor activists from the semiperiphery protested most frequently whie their counterparts from the periphery protested the least frequently. We also found that union members and labor activists from the periphery were significantly more supportive of reforming (rather than abolishing and replacing) capitalism and international financial and trade institutions compared to their counterparts from other zones, although this finding disappears after local (Kenyan) participants are excluded from the analysis. Finally, we find that representatives of organized labor from the semiperiphery were the least supportive of proposals for creating a democratic world government, while those from the core were the most supportive of global/international strategies for social change.


1995 ◽  
pp. 210-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Bunker ◽  
Paul S. Ciccantell

Theorists of hegemony combine a concern with the causes of war and peace with questions of dominant trade regimes. While this combination addresses issues of central importance for studies of international relations, it may somewhat confound the role of hegemony studies within a world systems perspective. The power of the world systems perspective lies in the consideration of entire worlds, not simply as the appropriate unit of analysis, but as integrated units of production and exchange. Hierarchy within this system reflects not simply politically enforced relations of unequal exchange, but the subordination of production in different parts of the world to regimes constructed and manipulated by core powers to their own economic and political advantage. The processes that create the power of the core and the processes by which the core subordinates the periphery constitute the critical questions within this perspective. Part, but only part, of the answer lies in the superior productive capacity and efficiency of the core, and resulting ability to dominate trade. Another part, and we believe this is primary, lies in the ways that, in order to become so productive and so efficient, economies rising to core status must organize other economies and international transport systems to assure the increasing, secure, cheap supplies of the raw materials that support productive efficiency and economic growth.


2013 ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Driscoll ◽  
Edward Kick

Within world-systems research there is an overwhelming tendency to treat nation-states as homogenous wholes. With some notable exceptions. this approach downplays the existence and operation of core-periphery relations on the sub-national level and the resultant inequality between different regions of nation-states. This study uses various complementary literatures in an integrative fashion to address this lacuna within the world-systems approach. We argue that uneven geographical development within core nations can at least partially be explained by the historical appropriation of natural capital; a universal process in which site-specific geographic factors and the larger political-economic context of the world-system interact. over time. to produce linked regions of relative accumulation and deprivation. To demonstrate the utility of this approach. we examine eastern North Carolina "s history as the principal producer of naval stores for Great Britain "s navy during Britain "s ascension toward hegemonic status in the world-system during the eighteenth century. We highlight how those initial extractive activities functioned as a "de-generative sector, hindering the region "s overall development. We argue generally for a synthetic approach to development theory and corresponding empirical examinations of modern and historical inequalities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul K. Gellert ◽  
Paul S. Ciccantell

Predominant analyses of energy offer insufficient theoretical and political-economic insight into the persistence of coal and other fossil fuels. The dominant narrative of coal powering the Industrial Revolution, and Great Britain's world dominance in the nineteenth century giving way to a U.S.- and oil-dominated twentieth century, is marred by teleological assumptions. The key assumption that a complete energy “transition” will occur leads some to conceive of a renewable-energy-dominated twenty-first century led by China. After critiquing the teleological assumptions of modernization, ecological modernization, energetics, and even world-systems analysis of energy “transition,” this paper offers a world-systems perspective on the “raw” materialism of coal. Examining the material characteristics of coal and the unequal structure of the world-economy, the paper uses long-term data from governmental and private sources to reveal the lack of transition as new sources of energy are added. The increases in coal consumption in China and India as they have ascended in the capitalist world-economy have more than offset the leveling-off and decline in some core nations. A true global peak and decline (let alone full substitution) in energy generally and coal specifically has never happened. The future need not repeat the past, but technical, policy, and movement approaches will not get far without addressing the structural imperatives of capitalist growth and the uneven power structures and processes of long-term change of the world-system.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-37
Author(s):  
Syarifudin Syarifudin

Each religious sect has its own characteristics, whether fundamental, radical, or religious. One of them is Insan Al-Kamil Congregation, which is in Cijati, South Cikareo Village, Wado District, Sumedang Regency. This congregation is Sufism with the concept of self-purification as the subject of its teachings. So, the purpose of this study is to reveal how the origin of Insan Al-Kamil Congregation, the concept of its purification, and the procedures of achieving its purification. This research uses a descriptive qualitative method with a normative theological approach as the blade of analysis. In addition, the data generated is the result of observation, interviews, and document studies. From the collected data, Jamaah Insan Al-Kamil adheres to the core teachings of Islam and is the tenth regeneration of Islam Teachings, which refers to the Prophet Muhammad SAW. According to this congregation, self-perfection becomes an obligation that must be achieved by human beings in order to remember Allah when life is done. The process of self-purification is done when human beings still live in the world by knowing His God. Therefore, the peak of self-purification is called Insan Kamil. 


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