Paz, estabilidad y legitimidad, 1990-2025/2050.

Abstract

In this essay Wallerstein examines the perspectives of the world system for the near future in the light of the theory of the capitalist world system. In accordance with this view, the present and the perspectives for possible future development are examined within three historical dimensions: in the short run, in which the present situation is defined in terms of Kondratieff's cycles; according to the secular tendencies of the system where the present is defined as characterized by the decadence of North American hegemony; and, finally, with respect to the unforeseeability proper to the oscillatory period opens up the possibility of its own transformation. Within this framework some contemporary processes, which constitute social and political problems, are examined and connections are established, thus giving coherence to the whole picture and permitting prognoses of some precision.