ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the inter-relationship between the world-level patterning of the major waves of labor unrest and cycles of world hegemony and world war. It shows a time series indicating the geographical spread of major waves of national labor unrest in any given year from 1911 through 1985: that is, it shows the percentage of countries in the world experiencing a wave of labor unrest in any given year. The chapter suggests a theoretical framework and provides some empirical evidence in support of the existence of linkages. It discusses the indices constructed from the World Labor Group Database will be used to assess the plausibility of hypotheses about the relationship between world-scale labor unrest and cycles of world hegemony and rivalry. The role played by social conflict in general in explaining the origins and historical evolution of the capitalist world-economy remains an important, but underexamined aspect of the modern world system.
