ABSTRACT
The perspective advanced in Chapter 1 simplifies the grand sweep, or at least some significant aspects of it, of the past millennium to a very specific pattern of politicoeconomic coevolution. The claims are not modest. No doubt, the assertions and related findings will be fiercely resisted, or, in some cases, they will be simply ignored by analysts who are more comfortable with much less structured views of the past. Cognitive dissonance is difficult to overcome. On the other hand, the argument and empirical support ultimately may turn out to be misconceived and misleading. That is a matter for further analysis to work out. Let us take the argument and the findings at face value for the moment and ask, if they have some validity, what are the implications for the study of international political economy?
