STRUCTURE, AGENCY, AND CONTEXT - THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF GEOGRAPHY TO WORLD-SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

The interaction of geography and world-systems theory has created two groups of work. The first body of work uses world-systems theory as it s theoretical framework with minor levels of critique or change. The s econd body of work attempts to inform world-systems theory by explicit ly including a geographical perspective. Human geographers attracted t o world-systems theory provide a perspective that highlights the role of agency in what is widely perceived to be a rigid structuralist appr oach. Key geographical concepts of region and place are viewed as soci al constructs created within an overarching context of structural impe ratives. By conceptualizing places, states, and the macroregions of co re, semiperiphery, and periphery as geographical. scales, the role of agency in creating and maintaining the important structures and instit utions of the capitalist world-economy, such as hegemony, is illustrat ed. The geographer's interest in the creation of geographical scales r esults in analysis of the dynamism of the contemporary world-system.