The Core-Periphery Debate
Economic development is a complex and puzzling phenomenon. There is no telling where, when, and how it will happen – why some countries and regions become rich, while others remain desperately poor. The classical notion that free factor flows would lead to convergence in development has long since been confounded by the glaring disparities in the levels of income that now prevail across the globe.
On a global scale, the most tantalizing issue is why Eastern civilizations, once very advanced, lost out to the West and why in Europe the Iberian and Mediterranean countries gave way to Northern Europe. That Europe, or at least part of it, came to dominate the political, economic, and cultural life of much of the world in its heyday in the nineteenth century is not open to question. When it emerged from the Dark Ages, it steadily extended its control and influence over the vast majority of the Earth’s surface, from 7% in 1500 to 84% by 1914.
Yet for all its...
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Aldcroft, D.H. (2019). European Periphery in an Age of Imperialism. In: Ness, I., Cope, Z. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_76-1
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