Core & Periphery Relations

The Global Economy – Basic features

• Single World market – Producers produce to exchange rather than use. Price is determined on a global scale.

• 3 Geographical tiers – Core / Semi Periphery / Periphery.

• Temporal Trends – Growth then stagnation. Hegemony (dominance of one country UK > USA > Japan > China?)

The Global Economy – Basic features

• Integration or rejection – Reaction of societies, eg Islamic fundamentalism.

• States – States function to protect their interests, their companies’ and peoples’ interests from the global economy.

• Alternative adaptations – How do nation states adapt to the global economy? Export led, protectionism, isolationism, CPE, Free market.

Global Economic Triangle of the CORE

North America Western Europe East Asia

High Income Countries.

Main trade flows are between these three areas. Countries in this core have diversified economies, with high output, high purchasing power and large domestic markets.

Outside this core, the global periphery is a location of cheap raw materials or cheap manufacturing or a market for the core to “dump” their surplus products.

Wide range of countries SEMI PERIPHERY

High and Middle Income countries.

First waves of NICs – South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore.

Second wave of NICs or RICs – eg Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa.

BRICs – Brazil, Russia, India, China.

Resource exporting countries, Recently and Newly Industrialised Countries, Former Socialist Countries, Poorer European Countries.

The excluded PERIPHERY

Lower Middle Income Countries and Low Income Countries.

Mainly Africa.

Small domestic markets, lack of infrastructure, population increase, low economic output, low levels of economic diversification, high agricultural population.

Influential global cities are the hubs/nodes of the global interactions in the global economy

1. New York2. London3. Tokyo4. Paris5. Hong Kong6. Chicago7. Los Angeles8. Singapore9. Sydney10. Seoul

Ranking based on indicators in the following;

• Business activity • Human capital• Information exchange • Cultural experience• Political engagement

The Top 10 Most Global Cities

The global economy is dynamic

For example the spatial decentralization (diffusion) of many economic activities.

Until recently this was seen as the diffusion of manufacturing away from the Core to Semi Peripheral areas.

Now we can observe diffusion in services and an increasing decentralization of coordination and control operations.

The disparity of wealth between core and periphery countries is staggering, with 15% of the global population enjoying 75% of the world's annual

income.

Core & Periphery Relations

General Principal is

• As general prosperity grows worldwide, the majority of that growth is enjoyed by a 'core' region of wealthy countries despite being severely outnumbered in population by those in a 'periphery' that are ignored.

What causes this?

• there are many barriers, physical and political, that prevent the poorer citizens of the world from participating in global relations.

Characteristics of the Core

• transnational links,

• modern development (i.e. higher wages, access to healthcare, adequate food/water/shelter)

• scientific & technological innovation,

• economic prosperity.

• highly industrialized

• rapidly-growing tertiary sector.

• EG MEDC!!

Characteristics of the Periphery

• extreme poverty and a low standard of living.

• Health care is non-existent in many places,

• less access to clean water

• poor infrastructure

• Dependence upon the core

• EG LEDC !

The Semi - Periphery

• A political label which referred to countries suffering struggles and social changes during the 1980s & 1990s

• E.G LATIN AMERICA & EASTERN EUROPE

Colonial Link

• Essentially, raw materials were extracted from the periphery and slave labor, sold to core countries where they would be consumed or manufactured, and then sold back to the periphery.

• Advocates of this theory believe that the damage done by centuries of exploitation have left these countries so far behind that it is impossible for them to compete in the global market.

Most Likely to…..CORE OR PERIPHERY

Activities

Using The Core And Periphery Worksheet answer the following…

•What is the general principle of the Core And Periphery?

•What caused this?

•What are the characteristics of the Core and Periphery areas?

•What is the Semi-Periphery?