The Semi-Periphery, World Revolution, and the Arab Spring: Reflections on Tunisia

Abstract

book, and students in the political economy course I have taught over the years have found this theoretical book as challenging but instructive as I did when I first read it. This is where I learned about Kondratieff waves, as well as the relationship of economic cycles and war. But it is the elaboration of the semi-periphery that I found most illuminating. Indeed, in my judgment, theorization of the semi-periphery is one of the most significant conceptual contributions to our understanding of both the global economy and cycles of contention. Coined by Immanuel Wallerstein, it has been extended historically and further elaborated by Chase-Dunn and his colleagues and students. Analyses of the newly-industrializing countries (NICs), the group of countries known as BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa sometimes included), and the Latin American "pink tide" that began in the early 21 st century-as well as debates on the rise and fall of hegemons-have been enriched by application of the concept of semi-peripheral development. What I find especially interesting is the correlation of semi-peripheral development with both the evolution of capitalism and the emergence of revolutions and rebellions. As Chase-Dunn explains in Global Formation and elsewhere, the semi-periphery is the weak link in the world-