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This paper is the ninth in a series in which the political careers of civilizations/world systems receive snapshot codings of their overall power structures at feasible intervals. The narratives are produced by collating histories with large frames of reference. The codings are done using a nominal variable, polarity, with seven available values. Previous articles in the series have examined the Indic system 550 BC--AD 1800, the Far Eastern 1025 BC--AD 1850, the Southwest Asian c. 2700--1500 BC, the Northeast African c. 2625--1500 BC. The Northeast African and Southwest Asian systems and sequences merged c. 1500 BC to form the Central system. Previous papers have coded this system from 1500 BC to 200 BC. The current paper narrates and codes the century from 200 BC to 100 BC at 10-year intervals. During this century, the Central system moved from unipolarity to hegemony and back; the polar state/hyperpower and hegemon was Rome. The century ended with Rome's economic and military capabilities increased, but with its strategic position in the Central system relatively weakened, because the core areas of its new potential main enemies (Parthia and Pontus) now lay farther from its military reach than those of its former potential main opponents (Macedonia and Syria). ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the transformations/distortions that the concept of the ‘rentier state’ has experienced as it has been detached from its context and reworked by the hegemonic epistemological and methodological practices of Political Science. In this paper, I argue that the hegemonic epistemological stance, and methodological practices in Political Science has evacuated this concept’s theoretical and social content by reducing it to a narrow understanding of ‘taxation without representation’. In this paper, I first explore the conceptual history of the ‘rentier state’ from its original usage - where it was the core concept employed to explain the democracy problem in the Middle East by referring to the social formations it perpetuated and the social struggles it shaped - to its contemporary metamorphosed usage by mainsteam Political Science. The form it takes in this mainstream approach is embodied in the idea of ‘taxation without representation’, which itself is utilizaed in a reduced form. After describing the historical development of this concept, I aim to explain the phenomenon. The explanation focuses on two distinct aspects of hegemony in the discipline: first, on the very specific understanding of the western epistemological tradition to which it submits; and second, the particular methodology it implements. Finally, I will demonstrate how this concept - which originated in the Middle East, was mediated by the hegemonic practices of the field, and was exported back to the Middle Eastern - has lost its explanatory capacity in its original context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why has US foreign policy moved from a foreign aid to a free trade focus? In fact, in the past twenty years, US foreign aid as a percentage of GDP has dropped precipitously while the US government has aggressively promoted free trade agreements (FTAs) with states with which it wishes to assist or to improve relations, especially in the Middle East. This phenomenon has interesting theoretical implications: for example, is this evidence that economic policy is now high politics and that globalization has changed how the US behaves as a hegemon? By examining the US FTAs with Israel and with Jordan, this paper argues that the changing nature of US hegemony in the Middle East reflects the relative decline of America’s economic power, the growth of globalized markets, and US preference to focus on economic issues, where in the past it concentrated on military and political matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the United States emerged as the single world power. Many scholars argued that given the Clinton administration's rhetoric on democracy and human rights, the US hegemony would make these ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]