In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S T HIS COMPARATIVE STUDY in historical sociology is, as the reader will surely notice, a hazardous endeavor.1 It is more than the result of many years of work conducted by a single individual—I am very much indebted to many scholars upon whose writings I have had the opportunity to reflect, and at times, have had the audacity to criticize. I must therefore express my sincere gratitude to all those who, at various points in time, bothered to read a chapter or a draft of this book manuscript as it progressed, so I could take into account their critical and perceptive comments. Like so many scholars who engage in comparative as well as historical sociology , I am deeply indebted to the influential work of Immanuel Wallerstein (Yale University). Without his intellectual support and continuing encouragement , and this despite my criticisms of world-systems analysis, this book would never have seen the light of day. His integrity and humility continue to be an inspiration to me in the face of mainstream academia and the cynicism it occasionally generates. I would like to thank Ramón Grosfoguel (UC Berkeley) for all of his feedback , intellectual support, and collegiality. I am similarly grateful to Mark 1. “The comparativist must get it right . . . which demands immense vigilance on the part of the comparativist. It also requires certain qualities. The comparativist, having displayed, perhaps, the necessary‘foolhardiness’inconfrontinglargethemes,andhavingchosentodosoviaacase-oriented approach, requires an enormous appetite for reading and a notable capacity for synthesis. The comparativist, then, may be foolhardy: in not only addressing large themes, but in risking judgment according to such standards. Yet the potential analytical rewards are great” (Byres 1995:575). viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Selden, William Martin, John Chaffee, Dale Tomich, Ravi Palat, and Ricardo Laremont, all from the State University of New York at Binghamton, for their comments on a long work in progress. I’d also like to express my appreciation to Christian Lamouroux (EHESS), Norihisa Yamashita (Hokkaido University) and Om Prakash (Delhi School of Economics) for their candid comments and constructive criticism at various points in time. Thanks also to Eric Vanhaute, Erik Thoen, Marc Boone, Luc François and Piet Saey, all from the University of Ghent, Belgium, for their early encouragement of my academic project when it was in its embryonic phase. Likewise, I am grateful for the support of Maurice Aymard, the former Director of the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, as well as its current Director, Alain d’Iribarne, which enabled me to complete my research in Paris during the summers of 2005 and 2006. It is therefore the appropriate moment to absolve all those who assisted with this book of any intellectual responsibility for any mistake I may have made; I take full responsibility for any errors or omissions in the text. In addition, the author and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission from the original publishers of some of the material contained in this book to reproduce parts of various chapters previously printed in the Review of the Fernand Braudel Center, Vol. 23(2), Fall 2000, the Review of the Fernand Braudel Center, Vol. 25(4), Fall 2002, and in C. Chase-Dunn and E. N. Anderson (eds.), The Historical Evolution of World-Systems, Palgrave/Macmillan, NY, 2005. Last but not least, I’d like to thank Moritz and Ruth Velleman for their hospitality and friendship over so many decades; my uncle Dr. Wim Mielants and his wife, Fanny Jordens, for their hospitality and support when doing research in Antwerpen, as well as other family members for their emotional support, most notably my uncle Dr. Peter Mielants; and especially, my beloved wife Meaghan, because without her continuing encouragement this study would never have appeared in print. Finally, I would like to dedicate this book to my father Dr. Marc Mielants and my grandmother Denise Pittoors, who have given me more love than I could ever give back in return. ...

Share