The Center Will Not Hold: The Rise and Decline of Liberalism
Wallerstein’s analysis in the fourth volume of his series on the modern world system is perfectly consistent with the title. The author has produced a remarkable analysis of the birth and subsequent triumph of the ‘liberal center’ in nineteenth century Europe. I do not intend to summarize this creative work whose theses are supported by strong arguments. Read it and, whatever your opinion may be, you will learn much from it. I shall take up the four major points of this contribution to understanding our world, which are: (1) the centrality of the French Revolution; (2) the long ideological and political conflict through which the crystallization of the liberal center emerges; (3) the parallel that Wallerstein makes between France and England, the major creators of this crystallization; (4) the birth of social science, which is one of its principal products. In this way, I propose to continue the ongoing discussion that has linked Wallerstein, our now deceased colleagues, Frank and Arrighi, and me for four decades.