International Relations. A self-Study Guide to Theory

Philosophy of science 
•
Holistic historical social science. 

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192 
 
World-systems analysis 
Normative perspective
• Social reality is not governed either by states or the 
states system, but by time-bound structures of “his-
torical systems”.
• Progress not linear and inevitable. Progress as possi-
bility.
• Alternative historical choices in the transition phase 
from one historical system to another. 
• Analysis of these structures helps formulate the his-
torical choices for transforming the systems. 
Theory and practice/role of 
the scientist 
• World-systems analysis as both theory and praxis. 
• Social science contributes to the transformation of 
the social world in that it formulates alternative his-
torical choices. 
Review questions 
1. What are the core assumptions of a “holistic historical social science”?
2. What is a “historical social system” or “world-system”? 
3. Outline world-systems analysis as a model for explaining international 
politics. 
4. Discuss the theory and praxis of world-systems analysis. 
Step 5: 
Final self-study and consolidation 
Self-study (3) 
To deepen your knowledge of different types of explanation from a phi-
losophy of science perspective, compare the individualist explanation of 
new liberal theory with the holistic/structuralist explanation of world-
systems analysis.
Required reading 
Wallerstein, Immanuel 2004: World-Systems Analysis. An Introduction. Durham and Lon-
don: Duke University Press, Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5. 

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193 
Supplementary reading 
Nölke, Andreas 2013: World-system theory, in: Schieder, Siegfried/Spindler, Manuela 
(eds.): Theories of International Relations. London and New York: Routledge (forth-
coming). 
Skocpol, Theda 1977: Wallerstein’s World Capitalist System: A Theoretical and Historical 
Critique, in: American Journal of Sociology 82: 5, 1075-1102. 
Wallerstein, Immanuel 1994 (2000): Peace, Stability and Legitimacy, 1990-2025/2050, 
in: Lundestad, G. (ed.): The Fall of the Great Powers. Peace, Stability, and Legiti-
macy. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press, 331-349, repr. in Wallerstein 2000, 435-
453. 
Wallerstein, Immanuel 1996: The inter-state structure of the modern world-system, in: 
Smith/Booth/Zalewski (eds.): International theory: Positivism and beyond. Cambridge: 
Cambridge University Press, 87-107. 
Recommendations for further reading 
Primary literature 
Wallerstein, Immanuel 1979: The Capitalist World-Economy. Essays by Immanuel Wal-
lerstein. Cambridge: CUP. 
Wallerstein, Immanuel 2000: The Essential Wallerstein. New York: The New Press. 
Wallerstein, Immanuel 2004: World-Systems Analysis. An Introduction. Durham and Lon-
don: Duke University Press. 
Wallerstein, Immanuel: The Modern World-System, 3 vols, 1974, 1980, 1989. Academic 
Press. 
Epistemological arguments 
Wallerstein, Immanuel 2000: The Essential Wallerstein. New York: The New Press, Part II 
(chapters 5-12). 
Geoculture 
Wallerstein 1991: Geopolitics and Geoculture. Essays on the Changing World-system. 
Cambridge: CUP. 
Wallerstein 1995: After Liberalism. New York: The New Press. 
Secondary literature 
Arrighi, Giovanni 1994: The Long Twentieth Century. London: Verso. 
Denemark, Robert A. et al (eds.) 2000: World System History. The Social Science of 
Long-Term Change. London/New York: Routledge. 
Godfrank, Walter R. 2000: Paradigm Regained? The Rules of Wallerstein’s World-
System-Method, in: Journal of World-Systems Research 6: 2, 150-195. 
Hall, Thomas D. (ed.) 2000: A World-System Reader. New Perspectives on Gender, Ur-
banism, Cultures, Indigenous People and Ecology. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. 

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194 
Hobden, Steve/Jones, Richard 1997: World-System Theory, in: Baylis, John/Smith, Steve 
(eds.): The Globalization of World Politics. An Introduction to International Relations. 
Oxford: OUP, 125-145. 
Shannon, Thomas R. 1996: An Introduction to the World-system Perspective. 2
nd
ed., 
Boulder, Col.: Westview Press. 
References in the text 
Wallerstein, Immanuel 1996: The inter-state structure of the modern world-system, in: 
Smith/Booth/Zalewski (eds.): International theory: Positivism and beyond. Cambridge: 
Cambridge University Press, 87-107. 
Wallerstein, Immanuel 1987: World-systems analysis, in: Giddens, A./Turner, J. (eds.): 
Social Theory today. Cambridge: CUP, 309-324. Repr. In Wallerstein 2000, 129-148. 
Wallerstein, Immanuel 2004: World-Systems Analysis. An Introduction. Durham and Lon-
don: Duke University Press. 
Wallerstein, Immanuel 2000: The Essential Wallerstein. New York: The New Press. 
Wallerstein, Immanuel 1997/2000: Social Science and the Quest for a just society, in: 
American Journal of Sociology, CII, 5, March 1997, 1241-57, repr. in Wallerstein 
2000, 185-203. 

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195 
9. Social constructivist theory 
Learning steps 
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 
197 
Step 1: 
The ontological status of “structure” as an unobservable and an 
“object” of scientific inquiry ........................................................................ 
201 
1.1.
“Structure” is real and an “object” of scientific inquiry ......................... 
203 
1.2. 
Social structures are also real and legitimate “objects” of scientific 
inquiry .................................................................................................... 
205 
Philosophical 
materialism/physicalism 
.................................................. 205 
Epistemological 
individualism 
............................................................... 206 
Moments of reflexivity: blurring the object/subject distinction ............. 
207 
Truth of theory ....................................................................................... 
207 
Summary 
................................................................................................ 208 
Step 2: 
The ontological status of “structure” as comprising ideas: Common 
and collective knowledge (culture) ............................................................ 
208 
Step 3: 
Agents and social structure: ontological interdependence as 
“mutual constitution” ................................................................................... 
210 
Step 4: 
Explanation ...................................................................................................... 
213 
4.1.
A question-driven approach ................................................................... 
213 
4.2.
Causal and constitutive explanation ....................................................... 
214 
Causal theory: historical explanation ..................................................... 215