ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the making of the modern world system and its dynamic element, the capitalist world economy, and their impact on the transformation of the European space into a new kind of political and economic structure. It examines Richard Munch's reconstructive approach and some of the elements of Niklas Luhmann's theory of society. The chapter discusses the transformation from a nationally oriented social systems theory to one that comprises the transnationalization and inter-penetration of national social systems. It explains what systems theory has to do with the global governance system. The chapter highlights the importance to think in reconstructionist terms within a modern world system approach. It describes how European Union as a political system sui generis is contributing to the emergence of a global governance system in long-term perspective. The European Union has been at the forefront of the transformation of the system of international relations towards a post-Westphalian model based on international cooperation, peace, and democracy.
