This study examines the development of Third World solidarity within the broader historical context of changing hegemonic power systems, from Pax Britannia to Pax Americana. Thomas focuses on the political, economic, and racial structures that are fundamental to hegemonic supremacy over peripheral and semiperipheral states, and he analyzes the divergent modes of Third World incorporation (subordination) into the world system. He concludes that the racial structure of global apartheid that dominated the world system during the colonial period is re-emerging under the rubric of a New World Order.