ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the way in which the world-system can be conceptualized. The most effective way to conceptualize the contextuality of the world over the regions is to see it as a relatively loosely integrated set of world-economies and a relatively separate political world-system. The precise ways in which these global systems are connected to each other must be subjected to empirical research. These systems are dynamic in nature because the position of states in the world-system is subject to constant change. The section about mobility between positions in the world-system has shown that the world-system not only has a constraining influence over its parts but also sometimes enables a state to improve its position. This discussion has also led to the questioning of the correctness of Wallerstein's conceptualization of the structure of the world-system. It was shown that, contrary to Wallerstein's assertion, the semi-periphery was a rather heterogeneous group and that mobility in the world-system was almost exclusively upward.
