The Ethics of Globalization: An Expansion of World Systems Theory Through a Mixed Methods Study

World Systems Theory was coined as a way to explain the ever-globalizing international system and the varying levels of development that have emerged as a result. While it was created in the 1970s, the way it explains the world system through roles and relationships remains relevant to the current system. The critiques of World Systems Theory are mainly regarding its vagueness and intangibility. This mixed-methods thesis hopes to address its critiques, emphasize its continued relevancy, and expand on the dynamics within the system. More specifically, it will expand on how the core utilizes exploitation and dependency to control the periphery. The first half will be an analysis of linear regressions on political development variables and world systems roles, and how the relationship between core and periphery maintains the system that continues to benefit the core. The second half will be a case study between Ecuador and the United States, focusing on their relationship with oil and putting the core-periphery dynamic under a microscope. The use of a mixed-methods study aims to bring together a comprehensive set of evidence that quantitative and qualitative on their own may lack. After this research, the idea of global identity was explored, and how the lack of it could contribute to why exploitation and dependency continue to be used as tools by the core to control the periphery.