Origins of Globalization

In this article we analyze processes and scales of global integration inhistorical perspective, starting with the Agrarian Revolution. We connect the main phases of historical globalization with the processes of the development of the Afroeurasian world-system. In the framework of the Afroeurasian world system the integration began several millennia BCE. In it the continental and supracontinental links became so developed long before the Great Geographic Discoveries and thus they could well be denoted as global (albeit in a some how limited sense). Among some researchers there is still a tendency to underestimatethe scale of those links in the pre-Industrial era; thus, it appeared necessary to provide additional empirical support for our statement. It also turned necessary to apply a special methodology (which necessitated the use of the world-system approach). We analyze some versions of periodization of globalization history. We also propose our own periodization of the globalization history based on the growth of the scale of intersocietal links as an indicator of the level of globalization development

The Cybernetic Revolution and the Forthcoming Epoch of Self-Regulating Systems.

The monograph presents the ideas about the main changes that occurred in the development of technologies from the emergence of Homo sapiens till present time and outlines the prospects of their development in the next 30–60 years and in some respect until the end of the twenty-first century.What determines the transition of a society from one level of development to another? One of the most fundamental causes is the global technological transformations. Among all major technological breakthroughs in history the most important are three production revolutions: 1) the Agrarian Revolution; 2) the Industrial Revolution; and 3) the Cyberneticone. The book introduces the theory of production revolutions which is a new valuable explanatory paradigm that analyzes causes and trends of dramatic shifts in historical process. The authors describe the course of technological transformations in history and demonstrate a possible application of the theory to explain the present and forthcoming technological changes. They analyze the technological shifts which took place in the second half of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries and forecast the main shifts in the next half a century. On this basis the authors present a detailed analysis of the latest production revolution which is denoted as '?ybernetic'. They make some predictions about its development in the nearest five decades and up to the end of the twenty-first century and show that the development of various self-regulating systems will be the main trend of this revolution. The authors argue that the transition to the starting final phase of the Cybernetic Revolution (in the 2030–2040s) will first occur in the field of medicine (in some its innovative branches). In future we will deal with the started convergence of innovative technologies which will form the system of MANBRIC-technologies (i.e. the technological paradigm based on medicine, additive, nano- and bio- technologies, robotics, IT and cognitivete chnologies). The monograph gives an outline of the future breakthroughs in medicine and some other technologies (between the 2010s and 2070s)

The Tiger and the Dragon: Development Models and Perspectives of India and China

In the coming decades in the process of globalization the position of the USA and Europe will weaken, while the role of developing countries will increase. The role of the two largest emerging economies – China and India – will be of special significance. What future will these fast-growing giants face? The demographers agree that pretty soon India will lead the world in population and thus surpass China, while China will encounter serious ageing population problems. But economic and political scenarios of the future are quite different: from resounding success and world leadership to collapse caused by demographic and socio-political troubles. Which of them is more feasible? In the present article I analyze the Chinese and Indian development models separately and comparatively and make a forecast of their perspectives in the twenty-first century. Such an analysis could be helpful for understanding Russia's ways of development

Global Technological Transformations

What determines the transition of society from one level of development to another? One of the most fundamental causes is global technological transformations. Among all major technological breakthroughs in history the most important are the three production revolutions: 1) the Agrarian Revolution; 2) the IndustrialRevolution and 3) the Scientifi c-Information Revolution which will transforminto the Cybernetic one.The article introduces the Theory of Production Revolutions. This is a new explanatory paradigm which is of value when analyzing causes and trends of global shifts in historical process. The article describes the course of technological transformations in history and demonstrates a possibleapplication of the theory to explain the present and forthcoming technological changes. The authors argue that the third production revolution that started inthe 1950s and which they call the Cybernetic one, in the coming decades, that is in the 2030s and 2040s, will get a new impetus and enter its final stage – the epoch of (self) controllable systems. There are given certain forecasts concerning the development in such spheres as medicine, biotechnologies and nanotechnologies in the coming decades (the 2010s – 2060s)

Introduction: Global Studies from Theories to Teaching

Globalization has enormously expanded our possibilities to look at various phenomena and processes in global perspective. In general, one may speak about the formation of a new paradigm connected with such a global approach. The emergence of Global Studies as an academic discipline reflects those changes. Such an approach demands a reconsideration of well-established views both in the field of research and in the field of teaching

Urbanisation and Political Development of the World System

Section 1 of this article presents a mathematical analysis of the long term global urbanization dynamics and demonstrates that it could be described as a series of phase transitions between attraction basins. This makes it possible to suggest new approaches to the analysis of global social macroevolution. Section 2 presents a three stage model of the macroevolution of the World System statehood (early – developed – mature state) that, we believe, describes the main features of political macro-evolution better than the two stage model proposed by Claessen and Skalník (early – mature state). This model has been used as a basis for the analysis of changes in the development of political structures from the pre-state polities and the most primitive early states (and their analogues) till the modern supercomplex states. In this section we also analyze the relationship between the growth of the territory controlled by the World System states and the growth of the statehood complexity. Finally, Section 3 attempts at the detection of the correlation between the global evolution of political structures and global urbanization processes. This study confirms the presence of asystem of attraction basins and phase transitions within the World System macroevolutionary developmentfield, as well as the presence of mathematically interpretable correlations and interrelations between the analyzed global processes – political, urbanizing, demographic, technological, and sociostructural

Globalization Studies: Theories, Research & Teaching

This is the second issue of the new series titled Globalistics and Globalization Studies. Globalistics may be regarded as a sort of systemic and more or less integrated 'core' within Global Studies. At present Global Studies function in two main dimensions – in the research of global political, economic,cultural and social processes, on the one hand, and in the realm of teaching – manifesting themselves inthe creation of various Global Studies programs and courses for university students who learn to see theworld in its entirety and variety. The second dimension is immensely important as the contents of such programs and courses may determine how the world will be comprehended by those people who may decide its fate in a decade or two. This dualistic nature of Global Studies has determined the general direction of our anthology that comprises both the theoretical dimension of Global Studies and their application to the teaching process. The anthology consists of three parts presenting a wide range of views on the meaning of the contemporary epoch, the past and the future of some important global processes as well as the problems and successes in the teaching process of Global Studies. Part 1: Globalization in Historical Retrospective. Part 2: Globalistics, Global Studies, and Global Processes. Part 3: Teaching Global Studies. In the present anthology one can find perceptions of globalization by a number of famous scholars from different countries of the world (Ervin Laszlo, Christopher Chase-Dunn, and others), but one can also get to know rather peculiar visions of globalization by Russian scientists and educators

Political Globalistics

The globalizing world needs more and more the globalizing social knowledge. That is why we experience such an acute deficit in productive meta concepts and macro methods that could make it possible for us to study the development of both polities and supra-political systems in the global temporal and spatial perspective, that would provide us with a reliable methodology of the connection between the micro- and macrolevels, between the local and the global, with an instrument allowing to compare political systems in an objective way using various parameters, to detect macro-trends within the enormous historical diversity, to identify causal hierarchies affecting processes of political globalization, and so on

Introduction. How Global Can Be Global Future?

Globalization processes continue to develop and we should pay more and more attention to them. We also need to systematize our ideas about globalization and Global Studies to somehow fit the realities. We hope that our Yearbook contributes to the realization of this goal. The present volume is the fifth in the series of yearbooks with the title Globalistics and Globalization Studies. However, why Globalistics, not Global Studies? Elsewhere we explained that the notion of Globalistics first appeared in Russia, this is a translation of the Russian term globalistika; however, we believe it might be useful within the English Global Studies thesaurus. We are sure that the introduction of this term is meaningful, because it expresses the vision of systemic and epistemological unity of global processes, the presence of a relatively autonomous field with its own research subject. Morphologically this term is identical with such well-established designations of academic disciplines as Economics, Linguistics, Physics, and so on

HISTORY & MATHEMATICS Political Demography & Global Ageing

Among different important issues, which are discussed in Political Demography theissue of global ageing becomes more and more pressing every year. It is sufficient to takeinto account the point that within two forthcoming decades a rapid global increase in thenumber of retirement-age persons will lead to its doubling within this fairly small historicalperiod. The concerns about population ageing apply to both developed and many developingcountries and it has turned into a global issue. In forthcoming decades the populationageing is likely to become one of the most important processes determining the future societycharacteristics and the direction of technological development.The present volume of the Yearbook (which is the fifth in the series) is subtitled 'PoliticalDemography & Global Ageing'. It brings together a number of interesting articlesby scholars from Europe, Asia, and America. They examine global ageing from a varietyof perspectives.This issue of the Yearbook consists of two main sections: (I) Aspects of PoliticalDemography; (II) Facing Population Ageing.We hope that this issue will be interesting and useful both for historians and mathematicians,as well as for all those dealing with various social and natural sciences