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International relations scholars who have traditionally seen the world system as "anarchic" have lately been challenged to view it under the rubric of "global governance." It is not always an easy matter to distinguish between acts of "governance" and acts of "anarchy," nor between the soft assertion of moral norms and the soft deployment of power-balancing. A case in point is the evolving US response toward Japanese actions and policies in the Far East (especially China) 1931- 1941, from the Mukden Incident to Pearl Harbor. US policy repeatedly withheld approval or expressed disapproval of Japanese actions and policies, while avoiding any highly explicit threat or official use of force. Anarchic and power-balancing moves are clearly present; yet there is also a distinct element, if not of governance, then of a struggle for governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the ninth in a series in which the political careers of civilizations/world systems receive snapshot codings of their overall power structures at feasible intervals. The narratives are produced by collating histories with large frames of ref ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the ninth in a series in which the political careers of civilizations/world systems receive snapshot codings of their overall power structures at feasible intervals. The narratives are produced by collating histories with large frames of reference. The codings are done using a nominal variable, polarity, with seven available values. Previous articles in the series have examined the Indic system 550 BC--AD 1800, the Far Eastern 1025 BC--AD 1850, the Southwest Asian c. 2700--1500 BC, the Northeast African c. 2625--1500 BC. The Northeast African and Southwest Asian systems and sequences merged c. 1500 BC to form the Central system. Previous papers have coded this system from 1500 BC to 200 BC. The current paper narrates and codes the century from 200 BC to 100 BC at 10-year intervals. During this century, the Central system moved from unipolarity to hegemony and back; the polar state/hyperpower and hegemon was Rome. The century ended with Rome's economic and military capabilities increased, but with its strategic position in the Central system relatively weakened, because the core areas of its new potential main enemies (Parthia and Pontus) now lay farther from its military reach than those of its former potential main opponents (Macedonia and Syria). ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the sixth in a series in which the political careers of civilizations/world systems receive snapshot codings of their overall power structures at feasible intervals. The narratives are produced by collating histories with large frames of reference. The codings are done using a nominal variable, polarity, with seven available values. Previous articles in the series have examined the Indic system 550 BC--AD 1800, the Far Eastern 1025 BC--AD 1850, the Southwest Asian c. 2700--1500 BC, the Northeast African c. 2625--1500 BC. The Northeast African and Southwest Asian systems and sequences merged c. 1500 BC to form the Central system. In the immediately previous article, the power structure of the Central Civilization/World System was appraised over its first 800 years at 10-year intervals, from 1500 BC to an arbitrary stopping point of 700 BC. The current paper reports the continuation of the coding, from 700 BC to an equally arbitrary stopping point of 400 BC. The predominant forms of the systemic power structure are examined in their relation to two competing theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of concern for clashes of civilizations, and of proposals for dialogues of civilizations, it is possible that the history of the world might usefully be viewed with a focus on the actual intercivilizational dialogues which occurred as civilizations collided, fused, or split apart. A small set of is proposed as suitable for an introductory syllabus on the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The power structure of the Central Civilization/ World System is appraised at 25-year intervals, from 1500 BC to an arbitrary stopping point of 700 BC. The systemic power structure will be evaluated in terms of its predominant forms and their stability. This paper will be the sixth in a series in which the political careers of civilizations/world systems receive snapshot codings of their overall power structures at feasible intervals. The narratives are produced by collating histories with large frames of reference. The codings are done using a nominal variable, polarity, with seven available values: nonpolarity; multipolarity; tripolarity; bipolarity; unipolarity; hegemony; empire. Previous articles and papers in the series have examined the Indic system 550 BC--AD 1800, the Far Eastern 1025 BC--AD 1850, the Northeast African c. 2625--1500 BC, and the Southwest Asian c.2700--1500 BC. The Northeast African and Southwest Asian systems and sequences merge c. 1500 BC to form the Central system, which has continued in existence since then, and expanded to global scope, engulfing all former coexisting world systems. The current paper will graph the first 800 years, or roughly one quarter of the duration, of the ongoing Central system, now over 3500 years old. The paper compares the sequence to the expectations of various theories. Toynbee’s revised civilizational model fares best; the classical European balance of power model is only partly successful. Alternative directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the eighth in a series in which the political careers of civilizations/world systems receive snapshot codings of their overall power structures at feasible intervals. The narratives are produced by collating histories with large frames of reference. The codings are done using a nominal variable, polarity, with seven available values. Previous articles in the series have examined the Indic system 550 BC--AD 1800, the Far Eastern 1025 BC--AD 1850, the Southwest Asian c. 2700--1500 BC, the Northeast African c. 2625--1500 BC. The Northeast African and Southwest Asian systems and sequences merged c. 1500 BC to form the Central system. Previous papers have coded this system from 1500 BC to 300 BC. The current paper narrates and codes the century from 300 BC to 200 BC at 10-year intervals, and examines the entire period from 1500 BC to 200 BC in various ways. The current paper narrates and codes the century from 300 BC to 200 BC at 10-year intervals, during which the system ended a long run of multipolarity, and transitioned to unipolarity (polar state: Rome). In this century, imperialism, balance of power, cold war and containment are all notably present. Various patterns are also discerned for the entire period from 1500 BC to 200 BC: multipolarity and unipolarity, prevail throughout, with a slight trend toward unipolarity; configurations tend strongly to persist from one observation to the next, with some very long "runs"; breaks in a run tend to take the form of "leaps"; and Toynbee's "Helleno-Sinic model" of a civilization that oscillates between greater and lesser degrees of centralization better fits the data than a model of progress toward increasing centralization. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the seventh in a series in which the political careers of civilizations/world systems receive snapshot codings of their overall power structures at feasible intervals. The narratives are produced by collating histories with large frames of reference. The codings are done using a nominal variable, polarity, with seven available values. Previous articles in the series have examined the Indic system 550 BC--AD 1800, the Far Eastern 1025 BC--AD 1850, the Southwest Asian c. 2700--1500 BC, the Northeast African c. 2625--1500 BC. The Northeast African and Southwest Asian systems and sequences merged c. 1500 BC to form the Central system. Previous papers have coded this system from 1500 BC to 400 BC. The current paper narrates and codes the century from 400 BC to 300 BC at 10-year intervals, and examines the entire period from 1500 BC to 300 BC in various ways. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A time series of political power configurations of the Indic world system 500 BC--AD 1800 is examined via Poisson process, Markov process, autocorrelation, periodogrammetry, and time-spectral analysis (including epoch superposition). Several periodicities, both long (300-1000 years) and short (1, 2 and 3 generations) are suggested for historical re-examination. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]