Core countries

In World Systems Theory, the core countries are the industrialized capitalist countries on which periphery countries and semi-periphery countries depend.

Defining A Core Country

Core countries control and profit the most from the world system, and thus they are the "core" of the world system. These countries possess the ability to exercise control over other countries or groups of countries with several kinds of power such as, military, economic, and political power. The United States, Europe, Australia, and Japan are examples of present core countries that have the most power in the world economic system. Core countries have both strong state machinery and a developed national culture. These countries usually receive a disproportionate large share of global wealth with a strong middle class but a larger working class. Capitalist elites coerce the periphery to work for lower wages and lower prices, thus causing the core to grow at the expense of the periphery. Core countries processes involve higher wages, a higher value added to the production process, along with high consumption, whereas periphery countries are the exact opposite.

Core countries are associated with money for resources or a favorable location relative to other societies. For example, the Mid-Atlantic colonies were considered core colonies because they had a central location, good land for agriculture, and plenty of natural resources.

They have strong state institutions, a powerful military and powerful global political alliances.

Sociological Theory

The World Systems Theory argues that a nation's future is decided by their stance in the global economy . A global capitalistic market demands the needs for wealthy (core) states and poor (periphery) states. Core states benefit from the hierarchical structure of international trade and labor. World systems theory follows the logic that international wars or multinational financial disputes can be explained as attempts to change a location within the global market for a specific state or groups of states; these changes can be to gain more control over the global market (to become a core country) while causing another nation to lose control over the world market. As the two groups grew apart in power, world systems theorists to established another group, the semi-periphery, to act as the middle group.

Semi-periphery countries usually surround the core countries both in a physical and fundamental sense . The semi-periphery countries act as the middle men between the core and the periphery countries - by giving the wealthy countries what they receive from the poor countries. The periphery countries are the poorer countries usually specializing in farming and have access natural resources - which the core countries use to profit from.

Main Functions

The main function of the core countries is to command and financially benefit from the world system better than the rest of the world. Core countries could also be viewed as the capitalist class while the periphery countries could be viewed as a disorganized working class . In a capitalism-driven market, core countries exchange goods with the poor nations at an unequal rate greatly in favor of the core countries .

The periphery countries’ purpose is to provide agricultural and natural resources along with the lower division of labor for larger corporations of semi-periphery and core countries . As a result of the lower priced division of labor and natural resources available, the core nations’ companies buy these products for a relatively low cost and then sell them for much higher . The periphery countries only receive low amounts of money for what they sell and must pay higher prices for anything they buy from outside their own region . Because of this continuous order, periphery countries can never earn enough to cover the costs of their imports while setting aside money to invest in better technologies . Core countries support this pattern by giving loans to the poor regions for specific investments in a raw material or type of agriculture, rather than help such regions establish themselves and balance out the world market . Capitalism, an economy encouraging trade and competition to maximize a public or private franchise’s profits, reinforces this inequality and greatly favors core nations because they control the world market for their own benefits.

Key Factors to becoming a Core

In order for a country to remain a core or to become a core, possible investors must be kept in mind when nation’s policies are planned . Core countries change with time due to many different factors including changes in geographic favoritism and regional affluence. Alterations in financing plans by companies will also play a part as they change to react to the continuously evolving world market. In order for a country to be considered a core country nominee, the country must possess an independent, stable government and potential for growth in the global market and advances in technology. Although these three factors will not completely decide where a company chooses to invest – they do play extremely large roles in such decisions. A main key to becoming or remaining a core is determined by the country’s government policies to encourage funding from outside.

Core Countries Throughout History

Pre-13th Century

Roman Empire at its peak.

The Silk Road extending from Southern Europe through Arabia, Somalia, Egypt, Persia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Java, and Vietnam until it reaches China. Land routes are red, water routes are blue.

Before the 13th century, the two empires that we would call the core are the Roman and Chinese empires. At its peak, the Roman Empire controlled large parts of Europe and the Mediterranean region. In Asia, the Chinese Empire was considered the middle kingdom and controlled the region. The two empires communicated and traded through the Silk Route, which takes its name from the extensive trade of Chinese silk.

13th-15th Century

Mongol Empire

Expansion of the Mongol Empire.

Ottoman Empire Expansion.

Pax Mongolica is a particularly important period which started in 1206 and ended, according to contradicting sources, between late 14th and early 15th centuries. The trade during this period took on a truly multi-continental dimension, efficient and safe trade routes were established, and many of the modern rules of trade were emerging. The Mongol Empire was the biggest empire in the history of the world. It stretched from as far east as China all the way to Europe, taking up large parts of what is now known as former Soviet Union, Middle East, and India. Many trade routes went through the Mongol Empire territory, even though they were not the easiest ones to travel, due to the rough Asian terrain. Yet, they attracted many merchants, because these routes were relatively cheap and safe to travel. The Mongols controlled their territories through military force and taxation. In many regions of the Mongol territory, the Mongol rule is remembered as brutal and destructive. Yet, some argue that many economic and cultural improvements were made during the Mongol Empire rule.

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, which emerged in 1299, quickly became a power to be reckoned with. By 1450, the Ottoman Empire took up the connecting territory between Black and Mediterranean seas. Yet, although the Ottoman Empire lasted three times longer than the Mongol Empire, it never came anywhere near the size of it..

15th-18th Century

A Map of Western Europe

A Map of Western Europe

Prior to the sixteenth century, "fuedalism" took over Western European society and pushing Western Europe on a road to capitalist development. Population and commerce grew rapidly within the fuedal system during the years of 1150-1300. Through the years 1300-1450, an economic downfall came about. The fuedalism growth had come to an end. According to Wallerstein, "the feudal crisis was most likely brought on by the involvement of the three following factors below:

1. Agricultural production fell or remained stagnant. This meant that the burden of peasant producers increased as the ruling class expanded.

2. The economic cycle of the feudal economy had reached its optimum level; afterwards the economy began to shrink.

3. A shift of climatological conditions decreased agricultural productivity and contributed to an increase in epidemics within the population."

The feudal crisis lead to the development of the world economic system. The world economic system came about during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. During this time the first core region consisted mostly of Northwestern Europe. The most dominate of Northwestern Europe were England, France, and Holland. These countries took on the definition of a core country. They developed a strong central government, bureaucracies, and built large militaries. These countries were then able to control the international commerce and create a profit for themselves. All of western Europe attempted bureaucratization, homogenization of the local population, developing a stronger military, and involving the country in a vast number of different economic activities. After these attempts to gain the "core" status, north western europe states locked in there positions as core states by 1640. England dominated the pack as Spain and Italy fell to semi-peripheral status. One factor that helped the core countries dominate over the other countries is that long-distance trade with the Americas and the east. This trade produced profits of 200%-300%. In order to enter this trade market countries needed a great amount of capital and state help. The smaller countries could not make this happen and this widened the gap between the "core" and "semi-periphery" countries. These core postions held strong up and through the 18th century. Even as the core regions started to produce a mixture of agricultural and industrial goods. At the beginning of 1700, the industrial productions started to take off. Industrial production will soon take over the agricultural production through the years to 1900.

18th-Early 19th Century

As nations continued to grow technologically, especially through printing journals and newspapers, communication was more widespread. Thus, the global society was united through this force. In order to assure a good life for their citizens, countries needed to rely on trade and on technological advancements, which ultimately determined how well in the world a country stood. In keeping in mind the interactions of nations in this period, John W. Cell notes in his essay entitled, Europe and the World in an Expanding World Economy, 1700-1850, that war and trade were somewhat dependent on each other. Nations had to defend their ships while also establishing territories elsewhere to ensure successful trade for themselves. By the middle of the seventeenth century, the "foundations of the modern world system had been laid."

The Rise and Eventual European Hegemony

At the beginning of the 18th century, Europe had not yet dominated in the world economy on account of the fact that its military did not match that of Asia's or of the Middle East. However, through organizing its economics and improving technology in industy, Europe took the lead as the most powerful nation in the late 18th century and remained in this position until late in the 1900's. Link to google books During this time, Portugal almost posed a threat to this dominating power by being very active at sea. However, it essentially failed to take Europe's place. In the eighteenth century, because of Europe's rising hegemony, whoever possessed the goods it desired was also successful. At this time, Asia was making and distributing goods that were valued by other areas, namely cotton, silk and tea. Europe on the other hand, was not producing products of interest to the other parts of the world. Hence, although Europe was incredibly wealthy, this dynamic shows that there may be a reversal of power because it is consistently expending money, yet hardly bringing in currency. America's crops were not initially appealing to Europeans. Tobacco's demand had to be advertised and eventually Europe became interested in this particular plant. In time, there was rather regular trans-Atlantic trade between the Americas and Europe for such crops as tobacco, cotton, and also goods available in South America.

The Slave Trade

The 18th century was profoundly marked by the slave trade. Although it had started on continental North America in August of 1619 as a form of indentured servantry, it continued in the next centuries. Slavery also occurred in Africa previous to Europeans capitalizing on selling slaves. Africans were sometimes hired to collect others off the coast, and bring them back to European ships. Because of this trade, the dependent nations remained dependent as their populations were suffering from the slave trade. This trade of humans was incredibly profitable for the Europeans, perpetuating their success and "rule" of the seas. Immediately following the early 19th century, the southern U.S. was 37.5% slaves.

Overall

Through this account of world trade during this time, one is able to see that although in the beginning of the eighteenth century, core countries belonged to Asia and the the Middle East. By the early nineteenth century, the countries that dominated belonged solely to Europe, while the US began to also make a rise through rigorous production of profitable crops and through its industrialization.

Early 19th Century-Present

At the beginning of the 19th century, Europe still dominated as the core region of the world. The most powerful was France under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte. When Napoleon’s conquest of Europe ended in failure however, Great Britain was set to become the undisputed core and world hegemon. They set up an empire and trade network that spanned the globe, and quickly became the richest country in the world. Their sphere of influence was so great that they were able to make sure no country on the European mainland would become powerful enough to overthrow them. This established Europe as the semi-periphery and the rest of the British Empire as the periphery. Things began to change when Germany became united in 1871 and established themselves as the leading industrial nation on the European mainland. Their desire to dominate the mainland helped them to become a core nation. After the First World War however, Europe, and especially Germany, was decimated, and the position for new core nations was opening up. This culminated with the defeat of Hitler in World War 2, when Britain was forced to sacrifice its hegemony, allowing the United States to become the world hegemon and major core. Its rival core was the USSR, until its collapse in 1991. Today, the United States remains a core nation, along with the European Union. The rest of the world is dependent on the economies of these places, and are heavily influenced by their culture and technology. As time passes, core nations rise and fall, and it is possible for this cycle to continue in the future.

Effects

The core nations have played a crucial role in establishing and continuation of the capitalist world economy. Core countries interact with the semi-periphery nations to take advantage of the periphery. A disadvantage to core nations is to remain a member of the core grouping, the government must retain or create new policies that encourage investments to keep in their country and not relocate. This can make it difficult for governments to change national standards that may sacrifice high profits. An example of a change that capitalism does not favor is the abolishment of slavery. During the early industrialization and growth of America, exports produced by slaves played a huge role in making businesses the most profit. Such movements to abolish slavery and spread equality caused an internal war within America. This part of history is a good example of one of the big perils that comes with being a core – reform in any national issue is not met with open arms, assuming the country wants to remain a core. Nations will always experience needs to change, which is a partial explanation of why the countries that are a part of the core grouping never remain there forever.

See also

• Core-periphery
• Dependency theory
• Developing country
• First World