Eastern Europe in the Mediterranean System: Stages of Medieval Globalization
The integration of Eastern European societies into the Mediterranean system (in the terminology of S. Amin) was discussed. The evolution of pre-state and Early State societies was considered as the result of a complex combination of global and local factors of development. It was noted that the entry of the region into the Mediterranean system was preceded by the activity of large paramilitary pre-state formations, which successfully used the advantages of the archaic social structure in the world-system relations. The introduction of the region into the Mediterranean system was dated to the time of approval in the region of metaphysics, on which the unity of this system was based. Eastern Europe was included in the Mediterranean system as a periphery, which explains the processes of political disintegration. The stages of integration of Eastern Europe into the Mediterranean system were highlighted. It was emphasized that, in the presence of obvious signs of dependent development, the civilizations of the region had some features of the early worlds-systems, which found some analogues in the world history. The work is a rare attempt to examine the history of pre-Mongol Eastern Europe in terms of a world-system perspective.