Semi-periphery countries

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In world-systems theory, the semi-periphery countries (sometimes referred to as just the semiperiphery) are the industrializing, mostly capitalist countries which are in the process of transforming from the periphery countries into core countries depend.

Contemporary nations of the semiperiphery are industrialized. Semi-periphery countries are major exporters of minerals and agricultural goods. They major in manufacturing and also export industrial goods and commodities. However, they lack the power and the economic dominance of core nations and still have a lot of unmanaged poverty. They tend to be bigger in land mass, like for example China, because more landmass generally means a bigger market.

The semi periphery is needed to stabilize the system. It absorbs the shock between the low-income periphery states and the high-income core states. They act as a political buffer.

World-systems theorists originally used only the two categories - perhiphery and core, but a need for "in between" category became quickly apparent. Hence the semi-periphery category was introduced for societies that moved away from the periphery but have not became core, in other words, societies that remained dependent, and to some extent underdeveloped, despite having achieved significant levels of industrialization.

Examples of semi-periphery countries: Brazil, China, Malaysia, Poland

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[edit] Further reading

Kaplan, David H.; Wheeler, James O.; Holloway, James O. Urban Geography. York, PA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2004., pg. 412.
Windows on Humanity by Conrad Phillip KOTTAK. Chapter 17, page 390.