Leftist historian Immanuel Wallerstein, for example, asserts that the U.S. has been "a fading global power" since the 1970s.

FORBES: It will take more than a recession to keep the country down.

Ignorance is not an excuse, but it seems to be the central theme for Michael Wallerstein, the main subject of the article.

FORBES: Should Law Schools Tell Applicants About The Dismal Jobs Picture?

This watershed period called "the long 16th century" by historian Immanuel Wallerstein was characterized by rapid population growth, the rise of capitalism, religious controversy and global exploration.

WSJ: Less Familiar Faces | Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe | Princeton University Art Museum | By Barrymore Laurence Scherer

The Mediterranean world sketched by Braudel and the world system across the Atlantic Ocean described by Wallerstein were nothing other than subsystems of the global system that encompassed Africa, the Mediterranean, the Islamic Middle East, India, China, and Southeast Asia.

ECONOMIST: The once and future boom

By Judith S. Wallerstein, Julia M.

ECONOMIST: I do, I can, I will

Influenced by the writings of Fernand Braudel and Immanuel Wallerstein (historians who helped establish a tradition of global comparative history), large numbers of Japanese intellectuals are beginning to realise that a global economic system existed in the areas around the Indian Ocean, the Arabic Sea, the South China Sea, and the East China Sea long before the westernisation of the world.

ECONOMIST: The once and future boom