Incorporation of Indian Subcontinent into Capitalist World-Economy

Capitalist World-Economy Immanuel Wallerstein This paper puts the case for perceiving the Indian subcontinent before 1750 as a zone largely external to the operations of the then Europe-based capitalist world-economy and to see 1750-1850 as the period during which it, along with many other parts of the world, was incorporated into the world-economy. It is argued that incorporation involved a restructuring of production processes and the creation of apolitical entity (or entities) operating within the rules of the interstate system. In the latter case, such an entity definitely does not have to be a colonial state. Indeed, in this period, the juridical structure of India was exceptional rather than usual, and the author has sought to trace the processess by which this exception occurred.