This latter point in particular went on to influence Marxist dependency theory, world systems theory
and modernization theory.
Writing in the 1970s, Wallerstein (1980) proposed World Systems
Theory (WST), arguing that the capitalist mode of production would
supersede others as it expanded across the globe. For Wallerstein, and
for dependency theorists who employ similar perspectives, this would
not necessarily lead to an eventual utopian outcome as Marx predicted
and would continue indefinitely. Central to Wallerstein’s ideas is the
centrality of the nation-state and co-existence of different world systems
and cultures of which capitalism is the dominant one.