Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to examine critically the concept of the semi-periphery, in the context of the evolution of global capitalism over the last 30 years or so. Since the semi-periphery became a particular focus of world-systems theory (WST hereafter) in the 1980s, the first part of the chapter looks at how this concept fits into the development of development theory, starting from the well-known conflicting paradigms of modernisation and dependency, moving on to the more specific relationship between the latter and the world-systems approach, and from there to the concept of semi-periphery itself. The second part examines the concept in detail, focusing on the work of Arrighi (1990), Chase-Dunn (1989, 1990) and the contributors to Martin (1990); here it is argued that the world-systems approach had considerable difficulty in adapting to the rise of neoliberalism and the political economy of globalisation, and that the origins of this difficulty lies in a flawed understanding of the dynamics of global capitalism. The final part outlines an alternative approach which deploys a different understanding of capital, class and the state in making sense of recent changes in the regions and countries chiefly seen as being semi-peripheral.
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© 2009 Hugo Radice
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Radice, H. (2009). Halfway to Paradise? Making Sense of the Semi-Periphery. In: Worth, O., Moore, P. (eds) Globalization and the ‘New’ Semi-Peripheries. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230245167_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230245167_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-30624-4
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-24516-7
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