 Through the process of globalization, the modern world has reached the state of one dominant world-system, but in human history there have been periods where separate world-systems existed simultaneously, according to Janet Abu-Lughod.The most well-known version of the world-system approach has been developed by Immanuel Wallerstein.A world-system is a crucial element of the world-system theory, a multidisciplinary, macro-scale approach to world history and social change.