A study of hegeomy and the world-system from the premodern to the present. Contributors include Thomas Reifer and Giovanni Arrighi.

Introduction: Hegemonic Declines, Jonathan Friedman, Christopher Chase-Dunn; Part I On the Way to the Modern World-System; Chapter 1 Escaping a Closed Universe, Johnny Persson; Chapter 2 Structure, Dynamics, and the Final Collapse of Bronze Age Civilizations in the Second Millennium B.C., Kajsa Ekholm Friedman; Chapter 3 Plus Ça Change?, Jonathan Friedman; Part II Comparing Modern Hegemonic Declines; Chapter 4 Dutch Hegemony and Contemporary Globalization, Peter J. Taylor; Chapter 5 A Perspective on Ottoman Decline, Karen Barkey; Chapter 6 Polanyi's "Double Movement", Beverly J. Silver, Giovanni Arrighi; Chapter 7 Globalization, Democratization, and Global Elite Formation in Hegemonic Cycles, Thomas Ehrlich Reifer; Part III Hegemonic Decline and Resistance; Chapter 8 Indigenous Peoples and Hegemonic Change, Thomas D. Hall, James V. Fenelon; Chapter 9 Terrorism and Hegemonic Decline, Albert J. Bergesen, Omar A. Lizardo;

Authored by Friedman, Jonathan; Chase-Dunn, Christopher