World-Systems Analysis and the Systemic Cycle

This chapter explores the theory of the systemic cycle as an explanation of the process of capitalism. Firstly, the chapter outlines the specific world-systemic unit of analysis in order to provide a basic reading of the relationship of the global and national level of capitalism. Secondly, the assumptions, models, and conclusions of Arrighi’s systemic cycle theory are described, providing a comprehensive model of economic change focused on historical (and predictive) processes of global capitalism. Finally, the chapter turns to Silver’s interpretation of the systemic cycle which puts power and cycles of labor commodification and decommodification into focus and accentuates agency on the national level. The result of this overview is a theory of the systemic cycle with three defining aspects: the world-system as the spatial unit of analysis and the position of national capitalisms within it; the systemic cycle as the theory of global processes and an understanding of the role of power and agency in constructing the results of these processes on the national level. The chapter continues to critically confront the systemic cycle theory, particularly the lack of demand-side mechanisms.