ABSTRACT
Immanuel Wallerstein, the American historian-sociologist elaborated his world system theory originally without any direct or indirect reference to the general or complex systems theories. Several authors, over-generalizing the Wallersteinian paradigm interpreting the modern phenomenon of globalization in a particular historicist way. According to the sadly neglected report by the Gulbenkian Commission, set up by outstanding scholars of various disciplines from all over the world: The importance of complex systems analysis for the analysis of social science is far-reaching. Historical social systems are quite clearly composed of multiple, interacting units, characterized by the emergence and evolution for nested hierarchical organization and structure, and complex spatiotemporal behavior. With a view to sustainable global evolution, the Meadowses and Randers emphasize that, contrary to the various misinterpretations of their "limits" thesis of 1972, they did not visualize a "zero rate of growth" strategy that is the alternative of world-wide stagnation, then and they do not do so now either.
