It was some time ago, but I really enjoyed Immanuel Wallerstein's books on this, "The Modern World-System" volumes 1-3. He's also maintained, for years, an exte

It was some time ago, but I really enjoyed Immanuel Wallerstein's books on this, "The Modern World-System" volumes 1-3. He's also maintained, for years, an extensive series of commentaries on current events: http://www.iwallerstein.com/commentaries/ http://www.iwallerstein.com/commentaries/ There's a book I read around the same time that I often recommend, "The Political Economy of Third World Intervention" by David Gibbs, which cites Wallerstein. It proposes a "business conflict model" of warmongering, and analyzes a shift in US military policy toward the Congo between the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. Basically the thesis is that war is no longer country versus country, but Multinational Corporate Conglomorate vs (MNC), and countries sway in alliance to various MNCs. Its a good read from the perspective of the "World System", the definition of which is a (global) economic system which transcends localized political systems. Prior to the 1500's, most economic trade took place within a common nation/political regime, but starting around then, the "modern" world became a place of extensive economic trade across political boundaries.