By Sanjay Prasad Paudel
American sociologist Immanuel Wallenstein explains about world system model beginning in the 1970s. . This is also known as the dependency theory. The growth of capitalism, in his view, was a sudden and unexpected emergence of the protracted crisis of feudalism. According to this theory, there are three levels of a hierarchy of the countries: core, semi-periphery, and periphery. The United States, France, and China, for example, represent a core country. On the other hand, Nepal, Bhutan, Nigeria, and the like represent the periphery country. Japan, Mexico, Brazil, and Thailand represent to the semi-periphery country.
Social Gravity Theory
According to Black Hole Structure of Social Gravity Theory, there is always a manifest and latent conflict between these countries. To this social latent function, I coin the term ‘Black Hole Social Structure of Gravity’. According to Hawking, the black hole not only swallows the stars and planets but also vomits them out. The British Empire at first swallowed down the Indian and African territories and later vomited them out. As per the Black Hole Structure of Social Gravity, there are always latent and manifest conflicts between core and core, periphery and periphery, and semi-periphery and semi-periphery countries.
Belt and Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Strategy can be examples of this kind. For example, the conflict between the United States and the People’s Republic of China represents the political conflict between core and core countries according to this theory. On the other hand, the present dispute between India and Nepal regarding the Lipulek and Limpiyadhura can be taken as example of conflict between semi- periphery and periphery countries.
This organism and others such as multinational companies, World Bank, WTO and INGOs are the factors that grow the social and political gravitation forces between these countries. This social gravity turns them from the periphery into the core and from the core into periphery or vice-versa. For example, India turns into a semi-periphery country from the periphery country. China turns into a core from semi-periphery country. In what way and how they build up their organisms of social gravity forces such as BRI and IPS, which change their hierarchy either positively or negatively.
In addition, there are similarities among the physical rules of the universe, in space and on the planet such as earth and the organs of society. For example, if we see the solar system, the sun is the core. Earth is semi-periphery and the moon and the other satellites take part in the periphery. In the present international political situation, Nepal is heading to social/political black holes known as Millennium Challenge Corporation and Belt and Road Initiative and neo-liberalism model of economic system.
The WTO and World Bank play a role of first rank modifiers at the core level. Furthermore, war, famine, pandemic and epidemic disease also work as a modifier. After the war in 1962, China and India maintained their hierarchical status of Wallenstein’s world system model. Under the second modifier come regional social and political organs such as BRI, MCC, BIMSTEC, NATO, and ADB, acting as political/economic gravity at regional or semi-periphery level.
Dependency
The third-rank modifiers include national income, remittance, foreign direct investment, demography, budget and political and social treaties and constitutions. These kinds of modifiers play a vital role at the periphery level of Wallenstein’s hierarchy. In a nutshell, the present map disputation between India and Nepal, and controversy surrounding MCC emerge from Wallenstein’s model of dependency theory. Nepal must not head toward any kind of social and political black holes that grow her dependency.
