David Wilkinson

Bio

1. From UCLA:

"David Wilkinson studies long-term and large-scale phenomena in world politics, including empires and systems of independent states. His research explores the fluctuations in the power structures of civilizations and world systems on very long time scales, while also touching on contemporary issues of multipolarity, unipolarity and hegemony. Professor Wilkinson serves as an editor for the Journal of World-Systems Research and the Comparative Civilizations Review."

(https://polisci.ucla.edu/person/david-wilkinson/

2. From the Wikipedia:

"Wilkinson redefines civilization on connectedness criterion, not cultural criterion, as "a city-state, cities-state, or tightly linked politico-military network of such states that are not a part of a larger such network", and considers civilizations as world-systems.

Wilkinson introduces the idea of "Central Civilization" or "Central World-System", which he argues emerged about 1500 BC with the integration of the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, and then engulfed the Aegean civilization in 560 BC, Indic civilization in 1000, the New World after the Age of Discovery, and finally the Far Eastern civilizations in 1850. This idea has been followed and developed by other scholars.

The notion that the Middle East and Europe are in the same system was also adopted by Ian Morris's award-winning book Why the West Rules—For Now, which defines the West as all civilizations descending from the Fertile Crescent, rather than just the traditional Western world."

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wilkinson_(political_scientist))

Publications

In relation to his work on the concept and history of Central Civilization:

• "Civilizations as Networks: Trade, War, Diplomacy, and Command-Control", 8 Complexity no.1 (September–October 2002), pp. 82–86.

• Wilkinson, David (1987). "The Connectedness Criterion and Central Civilization". In Melko, Matthew; Scott, Leighton (eds.). The Boundaries of Civilizations in Space and Time. University Press of America. pp. 17–21. ISBN 0819164925.

• Wilkinson, David (Spring 1994). "Civilizations Are World Systems!". Comparative Civilizations Review. 30 (30): 59–71. Retrieved November 24, 2017.

• Wilkinson, David (Fall 1987). "Central Civilization". Comparative Civilizations Review. 17 (17): 31–59. Retrieved November 24, 2017.