Core countries

In World Systems Theory, the core countries are the industrialized capitalist countries on which periphery countries and semi-periphery countries depend. Core countries have both strong state machinery and a developed national culture.^[1] In the current world system, the United States is the key core country.

Defining A Core State

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.^[2] 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 Behind Core Countries

Purpose of the Core Countries

The main function of the Core Countries is to command and finiancially benefit from the world system the best ^[3]. Semi-periphery countries usually surround the core countries both in a physical and fundamental sense.^[3] 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.^[3] The periphery countries are the poorer countries usually specialize in farming and have access natural resources - which the core countries use them to profit from.^[3]

Core Countries Throughout History

Pre-13th Century

13th-15th Century

15th-18th Century

18th-Early 19th Century

The 18th century was marked by the slave trade. Although it had started in the early 17th century, it continued in the next. Because of this trade, the dependent nations remained dependent as their populations were suffering from the slave trade. In 1850, the southern U.S. was 37.5% slaves. ^[4]

Early 19th Century-Present

Hegemonic Cycles Of Core States

Core countries go through hegemonic cycles. One follows the other to become the new world leader. There is a difference from many “core” countries becoming one international core state and a hegemonic core state, that difference being military influence. For example, the United States was the hegemonic leader from 1890 to 1973, when President Nixon withdrew troops from Vietnam, for a first U.S. military loss. While the U.S. remains as a core state with a strong military influence around the world, with troops stationed in many countries, it has lost its military dominance and its hegemonic leaderhip and has yet to be able to win since its 1973 withdrawal. The dominance of U.S. leadership and its grip on the world’s cultures and economies proves that the U.S. does not need to be a hegemonic leader to maintain its core status internationally.

The decline of core states is usually marked by war. It starts with government decentralization, is followed through by a war or uprising, and at the end the core state is “overthrown” and a new hegemonic leader is crowned thus starting the cycle over again. Thus proving the hypothesis to be correct

Examples of core countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

References

^ Wallerstein, Immanuel. The Modern World-System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century. New York: Academic Press. 1976. http://marriottschool.byu.edu/emp/WPW/Class%209%20-%20The%20World%20System%20Perspective.pdf
^ Margaret L. Andersen, Howard Francis Taylor.Sociology:the essentials.Cengage Learning.February 2006.http://books.google.com/books?id=X7s9hvROWjoC&pg=PA218&lpg=PA218&dq=sociology+core+countries&source=bl&ots=xkRctPKLVL&sig=_kKfeGYVSKBSGxFEHJG-s5ypyT4&hl=en&ei=Olz9S9nlA5TKMeHzzd4H&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CDkQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=sociology%20core%20countries&f=false.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Margaret Anderson. Howard Francis Taylor. Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society. Thomson/Wadsworth. 2005. http://books.google.com/books?id=LP9bIrZ9xacC&pg=PA254&dq=%22world+systems+theory%22&cd=6#v=onepage&q=%22core%20countries%22&f=false.
^ Inikori, J.E. "Africa in World History: the Export Slave Trade From Africa and the Emergence of the Altlantic Economic Order." General History of Africa V; Africa from the sixteenth to eighteenth century. p.92.