JWSR v12n1 - Complete Issue  Book Reviews journal of world-systems research, xii, i, july , – http://jwsr.ucr.edu issn -x Mohammed Bamyeh Th e Ends of Globalization Reviewed by Bruce Podobnik Hansen Blom and Finn Stepputat (eds.) Sovereign Bodies: Citizens, Migrants and States in the Postcolonial World Reviewed by Omar A. Lizardo Ernest S. Burch Jr. Alliance and Confl ict: Th e World System of the Inupiaq Eskimos Reviewed by Jon D. Carlson Christopher Chase-Dunn and E.N. Anderson (eds.) Th e Historical Evolution of World-Systems Reviewed by Th omas D. Hall Joshua S. Goldstein Th e Real Price of War: How You Pay for the War on Terror Reviewed by Emanuel Gregory Boussios JWSR Call for Book Reviewers Th e jwsr Book Review department publishes reviews of books on the same topics for which jwsr solicits articles, as described in the jwsr editorial policy. We also disseminate reviews of reference works and other books containing quantitative or qualitative data useful for world systems research. We solicit volunteers to review books. If you would like to write book reviews for jwsr, please notify the Book Review Editor of your areas of interest and any other information which may be helpful for determining which books are best suited for you. We also encourage suggestions of books for review from readers of jwsr, book authors, and publishers. For more information, please contact: Edward Kick, books@jwsr.org Advertising space is also available. For more information, please contact: Eric Titolo, ads@jwsr.org advertisement http://jwsr.ucr.edu mailto:books@jwsr.org mailto:ads@jwsr.org Journal of World-Systems Research Book Reviews  Bamyeh, Mohammed. . Th e Ends of Globalization. MN, University of Minnesota Press.  pages, isbn --- cloth, isbn --- paper. http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/B/bamyeh_globalization.html When the world undergoes signifi cant change, from one apparent era to another, the eff ect on existing scholarship can be profound. In some cases, books published just prior to watershed events can appear prescient, if they hinted at what was coming. In other cases, books can be caught like treatises in amber—with their diligent investigations of a spe- cifi c moment overtaken by new and unpredicted events. Th e insurgent attacks of September , , and the sub- sequent responses by the United States and its coalition part- ners, are widely believed to have reshaped the world’s political, economic, and cultural foundations. And, given that we are now a few years into this new era of heightened confl ict, a host of studies are emerging that explore the current features and possible trajecto- ries of a post-/ world. Key questions in this scholarship include: How might tensions between local cultures and national governments fuel regional and even global confl ict? What kinds of global political-military confl icts can we expect to experience over the coming decades? And how might global capital- ism intensify or ease the new threats of our times? Interestingly, precisely these kinds of questions were laid out in the pre- / book Th e Ends of Globalization, by Mohammed Bamyeh. Written in the late s, when large-scale geopolitical relations were peaceful and yet geno- cides in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia were fresh in our minds, Th e Ends of Globalization off ers one attempt to defi ne the major trajectories of change that were underway as a new century began. And, though Bamyeh’s analysis has been at least partially covered in amber by post / events, his book does have the virtue of raising crucial questions that remain relevant today. Bamyeh’s central objective is to map out transformations in the cultural, political, and economic features of a world that was just absorbing the impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union and its socialist allies in Eastern Europe. It was, as Bamyeh points out, a time of unbridled optimism in the United States. Treatises proclaiming the triumph of capitalism and representative democracy abounded. But, as Bamyeh correctly demonstrates, there were problems on the horizon. Drawing in particular on cases from the Middle East, Bamyeh explores the tensions that were building within many postcolonial states—as populations found their aspirations for a better future thwarted by unbridled capitalism and often rapacious, authoritarian nation-states. Indeed, a strength of Th e Ends of Globalization lies in is its investigation of the social and cultural tensions that are emerging within nations of the global south, as post-colonial dreams give way to the harsh realities of an increasingly polarized, unforgiving capitalist world-economy. Bamyeh’s nuanced analysis of the cultural contradictions embedded in many nation-states sheds important light on the new ‘totalitarianisms’ that were beginning to emerge in the develop- ing world. And he also pointed out that leaders in the United States were busy trying to identify new enemies, defi ned not as communists but instead as rogue nations, terrorists, and fanatics. In a particularly astute phrase, Bamyeh points out that these new American adversaries “are typifi ed by total unpredictability and possess a mysterious capacity or desire to strike at random, anywhere” (p. ). Less than a year after Th e Ends of Globalization was published, of course, an unprecedented set of attacks was launched against the World Trade Center and Pentagon by terrorists linked to Al Qaeda. Subsequent strikes in other countries demonstrated that this loose network has the capacity to support or inspire insurgent operations in many diff erent contexts. Surely, this is an adver- sary that is even more mysterious, unpredictable, and dangerous than anyone realized prior to Sept. , . If Bamyeh’s analysis of cultural contradictions is strong, his examination of geopolitical dynamics is less convincing. He argues that a “new imperialism” is emerging that is “less attached to economic or other material interests than the traditional theory of imperialism had supposed” (p. ). He suggests that powerful states will become less predictable in their behavior—in that they will undertake political-military campaigns more for symbolic than materi- ally-rational reasons. But, missing from this analysis is any discussion of the possibility that competition for raw materials like oil, gas, or even water will fuel rising geopolitical tensions. Th is interpretation of imperialism, while cer- tainly imaginative, does not seem to explain the recent intervention by the US in Iraq—or many future geopolitical confl icts that are likely to occur in this century as tensions over natural resources intensify. Bamyeh’s discussion of the likely trajectory of global capitalism—in its economic dimension—is also somewhat problematic. He argues that “…one of the fundamental economic features of globalization is that capital has man- aged to reacquire the sense of autonomy from politically inspired regulation that it lost several decades ago” (p. ). Prior to Sept. , , this argument about the rising power of the global corporation was advanced by many ana- lysts. After the attack, though, there was a turn of the screw, and corporations were again revealed to be highly dependent on the political-military protection of nation-states. While “free market” and “deregulation” debates rage within specifi c countries, on a global level it has again been demonstrated that there http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/B/bamyeh_globalization.html Journal of World-Systems Research Book Reviews  is an inter-dependent relationship between leading states and corporations. Bamyeh’s analysis, therefore, refl ects a temporary reality that was overturned by subsequent events. Th e Ends of Globalization concludes with an interesting analysis of possible strategies for reforming the global system. Bamyeh begins by dismissing the idea that constructing a world state should be part of any project of reform. He asserts that such a state would likely become “the most totalitarian institu- tion that humanity has ever known” (p. ). Instead, he argues in favor of a movement of global solidarity that integrates a wide variety of spiritually-based, class-based, and identity-based groups into a campaign designed to enhance “the possibilities of freedom in the world” (p. ). Bamyeh’s argument here is again prescient, given that soon after the book was written a multi-faceted “anti- globalization” and anti-war movement did indeed emerge to contest elite-driven forms of globalization and militarism. In the end, Bamyeh’s analysis has both areas of strength and of weakness. His discussions of geopolitical and economic dynamics have been at least partly covered in amber, as the onset of a new era of political and military confl ict have rendered his analysis (and those of many others) somewhat obsolete. On the other hand, his examination of the cultural contradictions of the global capital- ist system provides a useful overview of factors underlying the rise of modern fundamentalism in the world. Readers interested in this aspect of our age will certainly profi t by reading Th e Ends of Globalization. Bruce Podobnik Department of Sociology and Anthropology Lewis and Clark College podobnik@lclark.edu http://www.lclark.edu/~podobnik/ © 2006 Bruce Podobnik Blom, Hansen, and Finn Stepputat, eds. . Sovereign Bodies: Citizens, Migrants and States in the Postcolonial World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.  pages, isbn:  cloth, isbn:  paper. http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/titles/7996.html In the wake of events of / scholar across the social sciences have been forced to rethink a host of basic assumptions and theoretical commitments. One of the most important of these concerns the idea of state sovereignty in the contemporary world system. Th e traditional conception of sovereignty, wedded to the Weberian distinction between the arbitrary use of force of the tradi- tional despot and the legitimate monopoly of violence of the representatives of the modern centralized state, is central to our conception of the distinctiveness of the contemporary inter-state system. Th is is evident in the fact that, along with an international economy centered around competitive markets, the Westphalian system of states subject to the logic of mutual recognition of each other’s internal territorial sov- ereignty and the repudiation of a centralized imperial control system is—according to Wallerstein’s infl uential formula- tion—the sine qua non of the modern Euro-American-cen- tered world-system. In the volume under consideration here, Blom Hansen (Professor of Anthropology at Yale University) and Finn Stepputat (Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies) bring together a collection of readings designed to make us reassess the ease with which we assume sovereignty as a inherent and unproblematic property of modern states. Th e book can be read as in a state of critical dialogue with Hardt and Negri’s Empire, the fi rst major salvo against traditional notions of imperial authority as centralized as localizable. Th e book ’s authors take to heart Hardt and Negri’s call to begin to think of sovereignty as decentered and mobile, but bring with it a concern to move beyond general theoretical pronouncements. Th ey produc- tively focus on local empirical materials that attest to how state sovereignty is undergirded by local and translocal links and fl ows and is sustained by a discon- tinuous process of iteration and performance. In the excellent introductory chapter, the editors lay out their larger pro- grammatic perspective. In their view, it is time to question “…the obviousness of the state-territory-sovereignty link.” Instead of assuming sovereignty as a natural “capability” of state entities (as in most neo-realist treatments in IR), the volume attempts to “…conceptualize the territorial state and sovereignty as social constructions” (p. ). Th ankfully, at this point the reader is spared yet another rehashing of the now tired debate between “realism” and “constructiv- ism” in IR theory. Instead, the authors move beyond the usual constructivist positions associated with a “macro-phenomenological” view of the discursive and narrative construction of the identities and commitments of international actors (and the associated concern with a normative “logic of appropriateness” over a calculative “logic of consequences”), and move toward a post-constructiv- ist concern with how state sovereignty manifests itself at the micro-evel. For Hansen and Stepputat, the multifarious process of externalization of power at the level of practices takes the form of iterative performances of violence, state power, and the colonization of the bodies and minds of those subject to the “civilizing” imperatives of state action. Th ese take the form of micropractices of domination and the “subjection” and normalization of bodies mailto:podobnik@lclark.edu http://www.lclark.edu/~podobnik http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/titles/7996.html Journal of World-Systems Research Book Reviews  through mechanisms of control, physical conscription, bodily regulation and unconscious habituation. In this respect, the authors move beyond the some- times problematic idealism of constructivist theory, which is sometimes per- ceived to fl ounder when faced with the empirical realities that form the core of this volume: those associated with state violence, abuse of power and the internalization of rituals of life and death for the purpose of the staging of the ultimate and unquestioned authority of the legal framework of the state (–). Th is concern with the very physical basis of state sovereignty and the unabashed treatment and consideration of the violent foundations of the legal order of the modern state, leads the editors to draw on relatively neglected sources in con- temporary theorizing of the politics of sovereignty. In particular, Hansen and Stepputat are able to frame their project as a creative blend of the Neo-Spinozist Marxism of Hardt and Negri, tempered with a clear sense of the need to supplement this overarching macro-theoretical stance with a post-Foucauldian sense of the importance of iteration and “per- formance” (by interested state agents and other competing centers of power) for the establishment of both routinized and unstable (or emergent) regimes of state sovereignty (a theme that while broached by Hardt and Negri is never developed beyond the general sense that the “micro-politics of bodies” should be an important concern of contemporary theorists). However, those who think that this “dramaturgical” framework is still too closely tied to post-structuralist concerns with language and discourse to prop- erly deal with the “hard” realities of violence and the imposition of state power through force in the contemporary scene of the “new world disorder”, should breathe a sigh of relief. Th e contributors’ concern with the empirical realities of the bodily and physical procedures and consequences of the imposition of force by centralized state agents prevent them from falling into the post-structur- alist vice of hypostatizing signs. Instead, the authors draw on contemporary re-interpretations of the work of the middle and late Foucault (especially his concern with governmentality and political practices), Bataille’s radical sociol- ogy of the violent excess hidden behind the façade of the “routinized” rational- legal authority of the modern state and even the Schmittian formulation of the radically “illegal” basis of legality and the diff erentiation between friend and enemy, citizen and non-citizen, outsider and insider as the fundamental perfor- mative act of establishment of political authority and sovereignty. Th is theoretical scaff olding is supplemented by an overall attentiveness to the historical development of the ideological systems and the institutional prac- tices associated with the concept of state sovereignty. A particular strength of the book is that instead of off ering a purely “Europe-Centered” account of the process through which European states achieved their idiosyncratic sense of the importance of sovereignty in the realm of political conduct (as in the work of Tilly and Mann for instance), we are given a broader account of the process of the development of the European performative sense of sovereignty, one that is situated in the larger colonial project of the th century, and which takes into consideration the sometimes complex process of importation and exporta- tion of procedures, institutional practices and ideas regarding sovereignty from metropolitan centers to colonial outposts and back again (here the pioneering work of Benedict Anderson is of central importance). Th e authors show how Europe’s own sense of the distinctiveness of its political project was only pos- sible through the contrast and exclusionary practices made possible by the exis- tence of the “parallel world” of the colonies, which like the subjugated body of the criminal in Foucault’s Discipline and Punish, forms the proper inversion of the sublime body of the King represented by the colonial centers. As the authors make clear the colonies far from being a static point of com- parison (or simply a “symbolic” presence that allowed European identity to acquire its own sense of signifi cance through a Sausserian logic of diff erence) was in fact a real-life laboratory, where the liberalizing project of citizenship in the European metropolis was supplemented by a virtual real-life “laboratory” in which alternative practices—often of a deeply violent and illiberal cast—were developed in the colonial context that deemed local indigenous populations as “quasi-citizens” not endowed with the full-complements of rights and freedoms that were slowly doled out to the residents of the European core. In this sense, not only is the Euro-American experience of political “exceptionalism” (a core theme in the current “war on terror” being waged by the American establish- ment) unintelligible without understanding the exclusionary practices of domi- nation of the European powers, but neither is the contemporary experience of fractured and multiple forms of sovereignty that populate the “chaotic” post- colonial zones of Latin America, Africa and South-East Asia. Th ese constitute refl exive “late-modern” attempts to impose practices of sovereignty and domina- tion that were developed throughout the colonial period as a result of the mixing of European conceptions of the right of the colonizers, and their related realiza- tion that complete subjugation of indigenous populations (without mediation by local elites) was not possible. Th e result is mixed (and sometimes even pro- ductive and creative as well as violent) regimes of sovereignty that are spread throughout the post-colonial world, in which state, civil, and economic centers of sovereignty compete in sometimes complicated and overlapping ways even as they are embedded in ever widening circles of neo-imperial domination from the U.S. center and global capital fl ows of currency, laborers and technologies. Th is creates a patchwork state of fl uctuating and overlapping zones and cycles of order and disorder that is both a product of and a reaction to the colonial experience. Journal of World-Systems Research Book Reviews  Issues related to the fragility of citizen identities, and the performed nature of state authority cut across most of the contributions. Th e book opens with historical and cultural considerations of racial and ethnic identity (as these intermeshes with issues related to status and class) in a post-colonial context in Mexico and Peru. Partha Chatterjee goes on to explore the concept of political society as a counterweight to the neat division between politics and civil society in Western scholarship, a model that it is argued may not be applicable to post- colonial state entities. Political society is a mixed space where issues of govern- mentality and the conduct of everyday life are not clearly separate. He uses a study of confl ict between government agents and local religious groups in India to illustrate the point. Navaro-Yashin uses the concept of “borders of the imagi- nation” to understand how state boundaries and state power are performed in state rituals in the “Turkish Republic of North Cyprus.” Two contributions (by Lars Buur and Stefen Jensen) concentrate on the bottom-up reorganiza- tion of coercive authority (local police forces and “neighborhood watch” groups) in states (such as South Africa) that are too weak or racked with corruption to eff ectively provide these public goods. Th ey note the constitutive role that violence plays in recreating a semblance of order and morality at the local level and how issues of ethnic and religious identity, local self-control and morality intertwine in complex ways. Th e Comarroff s undertake a study of discourse surrounding “invasive plant species” in South Africa, which they deftly show parallels very closely xenophobic declarations regarding the impurity and inva- sive nature of immigrant populations. For the Comarroff s, this “naturalization” of the nation by way of botanical and natural analogies represents and alterna- tive way of reestablishing the racist overtones of national sovereignty and citi- zenship. Another basic concern running through many of the contributions in the book revolves around a problematization of the issue of individual citizenship (as a relation of “belonging” to a particular state formation) and the related notion of a separate “civil society” under contemporary conditions of decentered imperial dominance. Barry Hindess, in an excellent introductory chapter to the last section of the book productively takes on Hardt and Negri’s contribution to this issue by focusing on how even as they promote radically new ideas regard- ing sovereignty and control, they continue to implicitly hold on to a traditional conception of citizenship as involving only intra-statal links between rulers and citizens. For Hindess (p. ), this account is “seriously incomplete” because cit- izenship “should also be seen as part of a supranational governmental regime” composed of INGOs, TNCs and other international agencies and regulatory entities. Th e chapters that follow explore these issues in detail. Aihwa Ong uses the notion of “cosmopolitan citizenship” to study the variegated patterns of res- idence and residential exchange between Vancouver and Hong Kong. Peter van der Veer explores how India’s entry into the global economy by way of export- ing fl exible labor in the IT industry—“body shopping”—creates complex con- nections between national identity, religion and capitalism between American corporations and Hindu modernity. Oivind Flugerud notes how Norwegian national identity has undergone radical changes sustaining a renewed empha- sis on Norwegian uniqueness and the “quality” of locally made products while attempting to become integrated into a global system in its terms (i.e. by emphasizing the “Norwegian model” in foreign policy) and carefully protecting its boundaries from outside migration. Fuglerud notes how state sovereignty is transferred away from regulating economic fl ows to regulating population fl ows under these conditions. Finally, Simon Turner’s contribution enriches the concept of “suspended spaces” (i.e. internment camps) where state sovereignty is suspended and “special populations”, reduced to what Agamben refers to as “dead life”—become the purview of overlapping regimes of management and authority. He notes how Burundian refugees in Tanzania are subject to the regulation and control of both the local government and foreign INGOs, and how their attempts to begin to manage their own lives are carefully structured by these centers of authority. Overall, the book provides an excellent overview of contemporary theory and research at the interstices of globalization and citizenship studies, International Relations theory, anthropology and political sociology. Like many works crafted when fi elds are undergoing paradigm shifts this work is full of new concepts, exciting turns of older ideas and radical reformulations, some of which seem more prima facie useful that others. Omar A. Lizardo Department of Sociology University of Arizona olizardo@email.arizona.edu http://www.u.arizona.edu/~olizardo/ © 2006 Omar A. Lizardo Burch, Ernest S., Jr. . Alliance and Confl ict: Th e World System of the Iñupiaq Eskimos. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.  pages, isbn --- cloth, isbn --- paper. http://unp.unl.edu/bookinfo/4772.html Ernest S. Burch, Jr.’s Alliance and Confl ict: Th e World System of the Iñupiaq Eskimos addresses what has been a sorely overlooked area in world systems anal- ysis: what the structure of the world system in ancient times might have been, when societal relations were dominated by hunter-gatherer societies. Indeed, as mailto:olizardo@email.arizona.edu http://www.u.arizona.edu/~olizardo http://unp.unl.edu/bookinfo/4772.html Journal of World-Systems Research Book Reviews  Burch points out, it is this type of system that was likely prevalent throughout the world prior to the emergence of organized agriculture, yet these systems have been diffi cult to study due to a lack of scholarly attention, written record, and historical distance. How does one answer the questions: What did the pre- modern, hunter-gatherer world system look like? How did this system make the transition to one of chiefdoms? Burch applies his own considerable research experience—some four decades worth—studying the Iñupiaq Eskimos of Northwest Alaska to sketching a portrait of a hunter-gatherer world system. Burch’s research includes an impressive amount of fi rst-hand interview data with Native historians and indigenous people, anthropological and archaeological research, alongside the historical observa- tions of Western traders and explorers. Th ese sources taken together, combined with Burch’s impressive body of knowledge and understanding of the region, give a credible account of what such a system looked like, at least in the region in ques- tion. Temporally, the study is justifi ably limited to the period of —, when the various sources of information available coincide with a period prior to considerable social disturbance and indigenous decline. Th e emphasis of Burch’s book is, self-admittedly, descriptive. In this, it excels. Th e level of detail and quality of research is impressive. Chapter One off ers an introductory overview, addressing conceptual and methodological issues. For example, issues of boundaries and what constitutes a “nation” among mobile populations are addressed, and descriptions of the various peoples rel- evant to the study are detailed. Social delineations of ingroup/outgroup expres- sion—such as language, dress, and personal appearance—are discussed, lending credence to the claim that the conceptual frame of distinct ‘nations’ can be used when discussing mobile social groups. Further, Burch does a good job of explor- ing notions of territoriality, trespass and the use of easements, which are con- cepts scholars of non-mobile social-political groups often do not need to explain and often can take for granted in discussion of more ‘traditional’ states. Th is is more relevant in a situation where competing groups often occupy or travel across shared territory, though at diff erent times of year. Indeed, the ‘rules of the game’ in a world system of mobile hunter-gatherers are likely to be diff er- ent than those for more explicitly geographically static systems. Finally, Burch concludes his fi rst chapter with some methodological notes on the use of oral histories and his interviews. Notably, he admits to not compiling a relative chro- nology at the time of these initial interviews, something which would have made establishing a linear linking of events easier. However, the work does not suff er for this oversight, and it off ers a caution to others doing similar fi eldwork. Burch’s exploration of the world system of the Iñupiaq Eskimos ranges from examining social and geographic boundaries, to exploring the types of transactions that took place across these boundaries. Perhaps predictably, these transactions range from violence and death at one extreme, to peace, friendship, and biological interplay at the other. Th e middle two chapters in the book are divided into examining relations on the two sides of this spectrum. Chapter Two, “Hostile Relations”, sets out to counter what Burch sees as a projection of the ‘noble savage’ image onto the Iñupiaq. Indeed, instead of the smiling and happy demeanor oft projected upon Eskimos, Burch argues that a “general mistrust and fear of strangers underlay Iñupiaq relations with all outsiders.” Outsiders here include other indigenous people as well as Westerners, with a key vari- able infl uencing initial behavior being relative numbers and perceived strength. Indeed, much of what Burch presents bears more than a passing resemblance to a Hobbesian state of nature, albeit on an extended kinship-group level. Th is may not be surprising given the tenuous state of existence in the region, and begs the question—would hunter-gatherers in more resource-rich areas be sim- ilarly predisposed? In fact, much of the confl ict described by Burch derives from a desire for personal vengeance (often for earlier acts of violence—creating an ongoing circle of retribution), and he explicitly attempts to refute arguments of ‘economic imperative’ or ‘ethnic enmity’ as key variables driving inter-group confl ict. His refutation appears convincing, at least in the system under discus- sion. As a result, the system is characterized by a nearly continuous, low-level of confl ict, including either planning for, defending against, or at least worrying about the possibility of attack. Given such an environment, Chapter Th ree, “Friendly Relations” may be expected to be a very short chapter. Yet here is where some of the more com- plex relationships in the hunter-gatherer system of the Iñupiaq are explored, and Burch does an admirable job of examining and explaining these relation- ships. Here the reader can see the author’s love of his subject, as Burch notes that “friendly relations were at least as widespread as hostile ones, but they had diff erent focal points and connections.” Indeed, context matters, and con- siderably complex social protocols emerged to signal friendly intent and desire in a region characterized by high levels of hostility. Paradoxically, Burch notes that confl ict also results in one of the signifi cant reasons for peaceful interna- tional relations: international marriages. Because of population pressures and availability (or lack) of spouses, marriage occasionally occurred across estate boundaries. Further, kin-based relationships, once established, further pro- moted interaction. Other unique social institutions like that of a ‘trading part- ner’ and ‘comarriage spouse’ carried obligations that underlay peaceful relations between groups. Also, perhaps off ering a cosmopolitan-Kantian counter to the Journal of World-Systems Research Book Reviews  semi-Hobbesian and confl ictual perception of the region, Burch discusses the seasonal ‘trade fairs’ and ‘messenger feast’ gatherings. Both venues, “particularly the fairs, were also the only contexts in northwestern Alaska where people regu- larly could meet complete strangers under peaceful circumstances.” Also based on trade, ‘messenger feasts’ were structured around established partnerships, especially those of chieftains, and took place after invitations were sent via mes- senger. Th e trade fairs will be of particular interest to world system scholars, as these also are instruments by which the extent of systemic interaction can be determined. Th ousands of people gathered regularly at such events, giving credence to the consideration of the Iñupiaq as part of a distinct world system, and one that encompasses a truly international trading system. Th e fi nal chapter, “Conclusions”, is perhaps the weakest part of the book. But it is also the part that may off er the most promise, and this should not be taken too critically in a book that is strong throughout. Burch sets out to do two things with his work, and the fi rst—to describe and analyze the relations of the early contact peoples with one another and the peoples with whom they are in contact—is accomplished in great detail and with considerable insight. Part of the second goal, to externalize a particular case study to a larger set of theoretical implications, is more diffi cult and is partially accomplished. Burch does an admirable job of lending his considerable expertise to an underdevel- oped area of world systems scholarship: positing what a hunter-gatherer world system would look like. In that, the Iñupiaq Eskimos ca. – off er a viable model. But that may be part of the problem with attempting to model hunter-gatherer societies and systems based on them; defi nitionally, they are more subject to and infl uenced by environmental factors than more complex societies. So, given diff erent environmental conditions (e.g., more resources, fewer ‘out groups’, higher resultant populations), can we expect to see diff erent behaviors and social institutions? So while this is certainly a model of a hunter- gatherer system, this book introduces an area of research that certainly needs more development before we can say it off ers the model of such a society. In this, Burch succeeds in his desire to initiate the development of a general model of how international aff airs were conducted in hunter-gatherer societies. In an explicit application to world systems theory, the analysis introduces several questions for consideration with regard to the transition of such societies to the emergence of those classifi ed as ‘chiefdoms’ which are left unanswered. While such an analysis may be beyond the scope of Burch’s work, it does provide a platform for other scholars to use. All in all, the volume is a rich foray through the detailed work of a considerable career. While it does not fully explore some of the theoretical questions that may be of particular interest to world systems scholars, it does provide a nuanced case study that will serve as a point of dis- cussion henceforth. Further, it serves as an example of the important place detailed casework can play in theory building and hypothesis generation. Th e transition from a hunter-gatherer world system to one characterized by more complex chiefdoms is an important step in the evolutionary consideration of the ‘modern’ world system. Th is book off ers an intriguing glimpse at the fi rst half of that transitional equation. Jon D. Carlson Department of Political Science University of California, Davis jdcarlson@ucdavis.edu © 2006 Jon D. Carlson Chase-Dunn, Christopher, and E. N. Anderson, eds. . Th e Historical Evolution of World-Systems. New York and London: Palgrave.  pages, isbn --- cloth. http://www.palgrave-usa.com/catalog/product.aspx?isbn=1403965900 Th is volume is one of three that emerged from the Political Economy of the World-System meetings held in Riverside, California in . While it has the one of the main features of a conference volume—papers that are often snapshots of work in progress—it is much more coherent than is typically the case. All of the papers focus, in one way or another, on some aspect of world-systems evolution. Th e opening chapter by the editors, Christopher Chase-Dunn and E. N. Anderson use Ibn Khaldun’s generational account for the rise and fall of states as a vehicle for discussion of the general problem of the rise and fall of states and world-systems. In addi- tion to cohesiveness or solidarity, what Khaldun calls asabiyah, they add climate shifts, ecological devastation, disease, war, and shifting trade links as factors that shape cycles of rise and fall. Th ey link these with expansion of world-systems and the pivotal roles of semiperipheral states in the sporadic amalgamation of smaller world-systems into the modern world-system. Th eir fi nal section assesses how these factors and processes fi gure in the various theories of rise and fall of states. Th is, in turn, serves to place the subsequent papers on a larger canvass. William R. Th ompson unpacks and expands Chernykh’s models of ancient migrations, dubbed C-waves, as processes embedded in and driving world-system evolution. He notes that diff erent regions, the Mediterranean, Europe, Central Asia, and China all had somewhat diff erent dynamics. Shifts in internal dynam- ics render, for diff erent reasons in each region, each more susceptible to the shock of external migrations. He concludes that Chernykh’s emphasis on intermittent crises is very useful for understanding world-system change, but sees two, not mailto:jdcarlson@ucdavis.edu http://www.palgrave-usa.com/catalog/product.aspx?isbn=1403965900 Journal of World-Systems Research Book Reviews  one, crises. Furthermore, these crises do link all of Eurasia generating consider- able continuity, despite signifi cant regional diff erences and important reorienta- tions of trade patterns. Sing C. Chew discusses a millennium and a half of ecological cycles draw- ing on his argument that as world-systems or civilizations grow they gradually exhaust their ecologies, leading to collapse with deurbanization and population loss over a  or so year cycle, which he labels dark ages. He compares and contrasts Harappa, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Mycenae. Th ese Dark Ages lead to reorientations of trade. As with Th ompson, he sees larger processes at work in regional variations. Mitchell Allen unravels why in the late Bronze Age (fi rst millennium BCE) empires underwent signifi cant leap in size through a close examination of the Assyrian Empire. Th e basic explanation is that by improved administrative tech- nology which entailed using currency, developing a lingua franca, and new taxa- tion techniques all of which enabled them to maintain a large standing army for the fi rst time in history. Th ey also learned from their mistakes and successfully co-opted various frontier peoples to become agents of imperial administration, rather than raiders on the periphery. Most critically they kept other states out- side the empire, but linked them into trade relations that were mutually benefi - cial, and integrated new ideas and technologies from the frontiers into the central empire. Chase-Dunn and his students Alexis Alvarez and Daniel Pasciuti examine the roles of power and size in empire formation and urbanization. Th eir fi nd- ings are somewhat mixed. Th ere is a medium term association between city size and empire sizes in Europe and West Asia, less in Mesopotamia, almost none in South Asia, Egypt and East Asia. As yet they have no systematic explanation for these regional diff erences, though degree of centralization may be a major component. Another, in some ways more surprising fi nding is that the largest and second largest cities grow in tandem, along with empire size. Th ough spotty, the evidence supports contentions for the important roles of regional and inter- regional interactions in city and empire growth. Th ese fi ndings must be brack- eted by the weaknesses in the data, especially for South Asia. Still, with a variety of indicators and types of associations reported in this chapter and in previous works, the fi ndings appear to be robust. Th us, the most signifi cant implication is the need for much better data to sort out what is, in fact, happening. E. N. Anderson’s chapter is one of the most innovative in recent world-system history. He uses food practices as shown in preserved court documents on food preparation regimes in th century China to chart hegemonic cycles, specifi cally the rise, and later decline of Mongol dominance of China. Mongols brought many new foods into China, few using rice. Th e court was prompted to continue this trend under the Mings, both to show hospitality to visitors and to show its power “by serving food from all parts of its far-fl ung empire” (p.). Anderson argues that rather than barbarians, the Mongols built the fi rst global world-system, “com- plete with self-conscious globalization of knowledge and economy” (p. ). Th e system became undone when the Mings realized that long-distance ocean trade was a losing proposition, even while trade with Southeast Asia remained profi t- able. Eric Mielants compares the rise of South Asia and Europe, in an occasion- ally turgid, yet stimulating chapter. His analysis of incorporation uses Wallerstein’s division of external arena and peripheralized areas. Yet, his discussion of why South Asia is diff erent, on how frontiers function, and on roles of nomad invasions into the northeast of South Asia are insightful. South Asia is quintessentially in the middle: between West Asia/Europe and China, with a nobility stronger than that in Europe, but weaker than that in China, and urban autonomy more than in China, but less than in Europe. One of his more interesting jabs is that Andre Gunder Frank replaced Eurocentrism with Sinocentrism. His key point, however, bears repetition: lack of development in India must be understood as part of a world-systemic process, and not as a result of internal factors, nor through com- parison with Europe. With these insights, one cannot help but wonder what else he might have uncovered had brought to bear the work of Th omas Barfi eld (Th e Perilous Frontier, Blackwell, ) or explicitly dealt with some of the other ver- sions of world-system history in this volume. Still, this chapter is far richer than this summary suggests. Ho-Fung Hung explains China’s lack of development as a complex result of the conjuncture of several conditions and trends. He sees the lack of adoption of capitalism as rooted in legacies of Ming and Qing dynasties and in a gentry that preferred examinations and avoided capital accumulation through market participation. Furthermore, as the state devolved toward more localized control, local elites were freed to concentrate on accumulation of the means of violence in reaction to increased subaltern unrest fueled by ecologically rooted food shortages. He also notes that there was no labor absorbing frontier as there was for Europe. Finally, the legacy of the White Lotus millenarian religion made it easier for uto- pian socialism to take root. Th e fi nal chapter by Stephen G. Bunker and Paul S. Ciccantell is the boldest of the papers in this volume in seeking to present, in abbreviated form, a theory of world-system change that focuses on technology, matter, and space. Th is trinity is interconnected by transportation technology and costs and its role is examined by comparing Portugal, Holland, Great Britain, the United States, and Japan, focusing on dynamics, successive ascents, and causes and consequences of global inequality. In their view contemporary globalization is best seen as the latest iteration “in a Journal of World-Systems Research Book Reviews  centuries-long, cumulative series of cycles” (p. ). Th is is a self-reinforcing process entailed reduced cost of transportation of raw materials, further lowering the costs of transport mechanisms, which in turn required new organizational forms. Based on a nuanced discussion of these fi ve cases they conclude that securing a reliable variety of cheap raw materials is paramount and becomes more diffi cult with each cycle. Running through all of this are contradictions of economies of scale which create discontinuities of space. Eventually this cycle will butt up against various natural limits which cannot be solved by fi nancial responses. Th e issue then will be whether the central actors—states, fi rms, and sectors—“will be able to invent new forms of collaboration that do not require intensifi cation or spatial expansion” (p. ). Collectively, these papers provide rich and nuanced accounts of world-system evolution or world-system history. Several demonstrate how regional diff erences are vital, yet must be understood in their larger world-systemic linkages. Readers familiar with monographic world-system literature will recognize that the power lies in demonstrating how both diff erences and similarities are simultaneous con- sequences of world-systemic forces and processes played out in the context of, and against, myriad, specifi c local conditions and processes. A second set of themes running through these papers are complex roles of ecological relationships of vari- ous world-systemic processes. Again, ecology is not a “master variable,” so much as a set of factors and processes that must be integrated into the mix of social factors and processes that explain world-system evolution. Th e volume might have benefi ted from a concluding chapter that brought out these and other themes connecting the papers. In many ways, however, the intro- duction serves that purpose. It could be read profi tably as a concluding chapter. Overall, this volume is an important addition to the study of world-system history. Th e release of a less expensive paper version would make it a useful addition to various courses. Th omas D. Hall Department of Sociology & Anthropology DePauw University thall@depauw.edu © 2006 Th omas D. Hall Goldstein, Joshua S. . Th e Real Price of War: How You Pay for the War on Terror. New York: New York University Press.  pages. isbn  cloth. http://www.nyupress.org/books/The_Real_Price_of_War-products_id-4676.html Goldstein is a political scientist who takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of war. Goldstein’s argument is simple, yet powerful and persuasive: Americans have not spent enough to win the war on terror, and cannot aff ord not to. Th e Real Price of War presents three arguments. Th e fi rst argument con- cerns the costs of war. Th e war is considerably more costly than planned, par- ticularly so when including hidden, indirect, and future costs. Th e second argument focuses on the theory that Americans are forced to pay the price and more than likely a rising price for war, in the immediate future. Th ird, the Bush Administration and Congress have camoufl aged the real price of this present war, and have presented tax cuts as well which will only delay paying the costs of the present war to the future generation. Goldstein argues that the war on terrorism is consider- ably more costly than Americans have been told. A tremendous infl ux of capital and resources must be utilized to win the war on terrorism or Americans will be asked to contribute far more in the future. Goldstein acknowledges that the American public often obtains information on war—related information from the press—and therefore these numbers for war costs are in a form that appear astronomical and out of touch with what most Americans’ understanding of what war is costing them. Goldstein’s model of war spending places the burden on the individual—how much the war eff ort is costing you personally through the cost of war per household in the United States. Goldstein breaks down bil- lion-dollar government spending into the costs the average American household is paying through their taxes. Goldstein makes a clever analogy of war spending as a “parking meter in their living room” to an equivalent of approximately  a month to fi nance war. Goldstein also argues that the war eff ort and sacrifi ces stretch far beyond military spending to include casualties, lost tourism, strain on local govern- ment budgets, civilian-to-military hardships for personnel, etc. Th e longer the war continues, the more these costs grow. Th is is important to acknowledge. By highlighting upon this phenomena, Goldstein adds credibility to his model on war spending. Americans keep a watchful eye on continued war spending. However, the ‘real’ costs in human lives and quality of human life should never be underestimated. By explaining and emphasizing the importance of these costs beyond tax dollars, Goldstein has added an important real life dimen- sion to his model. It may have benefi ted Goldstein’s work to have discussed in detail other considerations outside of direct costs of war—including public opinion of the war—although these ‘costs’ could never be truly quantifi ed. Prior administrations have felt the heat of negative war opinion. A common example is President Johnson’s decision to not seek reelection in the  presidential race due, in part, to the strong negative sentiment against the Vietnam War. Although public opinion costs could never be quantifi ed in an eff ective manner, the burden on war policy making could be considerable. By discussing the mailto:thall@depauw.edu http://www.nyupress.org/books/The_Real_Price_of_War-products_id-4676.html Journal of World-Systems Research importance of public opinion, Goldstein could have considerably strengthened the backbone of his theoretical arguments. For those who argue ‘Americans are spending too much’, Goldstein coun- ters with that argument that a range of historical evidence exists to prove that Americans are spending much less in comparison to the spending for past wars. Goldstein’s examples of spending in prior wars were well-founded in his research. Traditionally, governments have fi nanced war by raising taxes. Others have done so by borrowing money (the US government has also partially adopted this strategy as well). Th is increases government debt, which could drive nation- states into bankruptcy as it did to Spain in  and . Th e two World Wars were enormous military eff orts—mobilizing entire societies for war—con- scripting labor and military service, infl ating prices in markets for industrial goods and various natural resources, and shifting investments from civilian to military capital. Also, Goldstein argues that Americans have been told that the War on Terror is a war without sacrifi ce. But as Goldstein emphatically states: “Th ese truths should be self-evident: Th e nation is at war. Th e war is expensive. Someone has to pay for it.” As Goldstein presents in his argument, liberal read- ers will need to consider the possibility that the war deserves even more money and attention than President Bush has given it; conservative readers will need to consider the possibility that Americans need to raise taxes to cover the costs for the war. Goldstein closes with the arguments that the in order to win the war on terror at a more rapid pace, Americans need to better fi nance the battle coff ers. Th is increase in war spending would cost the average American  per house- hold per month. For this, Americans would see improvements in all branches of the military and its wings—including diplomacy. Goldstein presents his arguments and the historical narrative of war spend- ing in language suitable for most readers. Goldstein’s writing style is suited for interdisciplinary readers. Th is makes his work attractive for graduate courses and undergraduate courses in various fi elds of study beyond political science alone. Emanuel Gregory Boussios Department of Sociology State University of New York at Stony Brook egboussi@ic.sunysb.edu © 2006 Emanuel Gregory Boussios mailto:egboussi@ic.sunysb.edu Book Reviews Bamyeh Blom & Stepputat Burch Chase-Dunn & Anderson Goldstein