Breve ou Longo? Um estudo comparativo entre as contribuições de Hobsbawm e Arrighi para a interpretação da História Econômica do século XX[Short or Long? A comparative study on the contributions of Hobsbawm and Arrighi to the XXth Century Economic History´s interpretation]

This study aims to conduct a comparative study between the visions of Eric Hobsbawm and Giovanni Arrighi on the economic transformations of the twentieth century. In our view, there are differences in methodology and approach which makes the comparison a matter of methodological discussion in Economic History. Hobsbawm, for example, maintains an understanding of the twentieth century as a brief period, limited primarily by the dispute between the U.S. and the USSR for world supremacy. The historical milestones for Hobsbawm would be the First World War (1914 - 1918) and the end of the USSR (1991). According to Arrighi, the focus would be on the assertion of American supremacy and consolidation of systems designated from the mid-nineteenth century. Besides the obvious difference of approaches and frameworks, there is more to discuss methodically - especially in the field of understanding of economic history – from both authors. This thread runs through processes such as military-political expansion and technological revolutions of the period.