The impact of the ‘global transformation’ on uneven and combined development

This paper focuses on the impact of the 19th century ‘global transformation’ on uneven and combined development (UCD). It argues that the intensification of UCD by the global transformation led first to a much more uneven and more combined world order, and subsequently to a less uneven but increasingly combined world order. The consequence of this intense period in the history of UCD was a highly centred, core-periphery global order during the 19th century and much of the 20th century. However, since the middle part of the 20th century, and more obviously since the early part of the 21st century, this is giving way to an increasingly decentred global order, still highly combined, but with a marked diffusion in the distribution of the modern ‘mode of power’. The result is a reduction in the extreme unevenness of power, wealth and status that characterized the initial phases of global modernity.