世界體系理論（），是由萨米尔·阿明、阿銳基、安德烈·冈德·弗兰克與伊曼纽尔·沃勒斯坦等人創建的後馬克思主義國際關係理論及社會理論，應用於全球史和社会变迁。該理論強調將（而非民族國家）作為主要（但不是唯一的）的單元。

「世界體系」是指跨區域和跨國的勞動分工，它將世界分成了核心經濟、半邊陲經濟和邊陲經濟。核心經濟專注於高科技、资本密集型的生產，而世界的其餘部分則要進行低技術、勞動密集型生產以及原材料的開採。這一體系時刻都在強化核心國家的支配地位。然而，該體系也有動態性，部分是由於运输方式的變革，以及單個國家可能會獲得/失去其核心/半邊緣/邊緣的地位。這種結構是由勞動分工統一起來的。它是植根於资本主义經濟的世界經濟。在一段時間內，某些國家成為世界霸權；在過去的幾個世紀裏，隨着世界體系在地理上擴展、經濟上強化，霸主的地位從荷蘭轉移到了英國，最近又轉移到了美國。美国。

緣起
世界體系理論發跡於20世紀70年代。其理論基礎主要在社会学，但已發展成為非常跨學科的理論。世界體系理論試圖取代現代化理論的地位，華勒斯坦對現代化理論的批判主要有以下三點：

 它以民族國家作為唯一的
 它假定所有國家只有同一條發展路徑
 它無視限制了地方和國家發展的跨國結構。

該理論有三個主要的來源：年鑑學派、马克思主义傳統，以及依附理論。其中，年鑑學派传统（尤其是費爾南·布勞岱爾）对華勒斯坦在於將長時期的過程和將地理-生態區域作為。马克思主义增加了對的強調，關注過程和競爭性的阶级斗争，關注相關的總體，社會形態的短暫性以及矛盾衝突的辯證運動。而依附理論是一套對發展過程的新馬克思主義解釋。

傳統馬克思主義中也有對帝國主義的探討，列寧在其名著《帝國主義是資本主義的最高階段》中首開其端。世界體系論中談及的核心與邊陲概念也源於列寧。

其他對世界體系理論產生影響的有卡尔·波兰尼、尼古拉·康德拉季耶夫和约瑟夫·熊彼特等學者（特別是他們對商業週期和三種基本經濟組織模式概念的研究：互惠模式、再分配模式和市場模式，華勒斯坦將其重新定義為對微型系統、世界帝國和世界經濟的討論）。

華勒斯坦認為，資本主義世界經濟的發展對世界上很大一部分人口是有害的。他認為，20世紀70年代以來的時期是一個「過渡時代」，它將讓位於一個（或多個）未來的世界體系，其結構無法預先確定。

世界體系的主要思想家有、萨米尔·阿明、阿銳基、安德烈·岡德·法蘭克，以及伊曼纽尔·沃勒斯坦，其他主要貢獻者有、、、李民骐、等人。

内容
華勒斯坦從邊陲與核心的資源分配機制入手。「核心」係指已開發的工業化地區、政治集團，「邊陲」指較貧窮並以出口原物料為主的未開發或開發中國家，「半邊陲」是一方面支配某些邊陲國，另一方面又被技術更先進的強國支配的中小國家。透過市場機制，邊陲受到中心的剝削。這是世界體系的空間劃分。華勒斯坦如是說：

至於時間向度，華勒斯坦定義了世界體系的四個時間特色：週期節律代表經濟的短期波動，華勒斯坦基於康德拉季耶夫的長波理論，指出資本主義具有約40－50年的擴張-收縮週期，而中心、邊陲與半邊陲的格局也隨之調整。長期趨勢一如其名，代表經濟成長或衰退等長期的傾向。矛盾是系統內的一般爭議，通常是關於短期與長程目標之間的取捨。最後一個特色是危機，這也代表該系統的終結。

參見

 大歷史
 依附理论 (国际政治经济学)
 結構主義經濟學
 
 
 
 后殖民主义
 一般系統理論
 
 全球化
 國際關係理論
 
 
 
 
 系統思維

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發展經濟學
國際關係理論
社會學理論