Core countries

A world map of countries by trading status in late 20th century using the world system
differentiation into core countries (blue), semi-periphery countries (purple) and periphery countries
(red), based on the list in Dunn, Kawano, Brewer (2000)

In world systems theory, the core countries are the

industrialized capitalist countries on which periphery
countries and semi-periphery countries depend. Core
countries control and benefit from the global market.
They are usually recognized as wealthy states with a
wide variety of resources and are in a favorable
location compared to other states. They have strong
state institutions, a powerful military and powerful
global political alliances.
Developed countries are shown in blue (according
Core countries do not always stay core permanently. to the International Monetary Fund, as of 2008)
Throughout history, core states have been changing
and new ones have been added to the core list. The
most influential countries in the past have been what would be considered core. These were the Asian,
Indian and Middle Eastern empires in the ages up to the 16th century, prominently India and China were
the richest regions in the world until the European powers took the lead, although the major Asian powers
such as China were still very influential in the region. Europe remained ahead of the pack until the 20th
century, when the two World Wars turned disastrous for the European economies. It is then that the
victorious United States and Soviet Union, up to late 1980s, became the two hegemons, creating a bipolar
world order. The heart of the core countries consists of the United States, Canada, most of Western Europe,
Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The population of the core is by far on average the wealthiest and best
educated on the planet.

Contents
Definition
Throughout history
Pre–13th century
13th–15th century
Mongol Empire
Ottoman Empire
15th–18th century
18th–early 19th century
Rise and eventual European hegemony
Slave trade
Early 19th century–present
List of current core countries
Sociological theory
Key qualifiers
Main functions
Effects
See also
References

Definition
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, Canada, most of Western Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are examples of
present core countries that have the most power in the world economic system.[1] Core countries tend to
have both strong state machinery and a developed national culture.

Throughout history

Pre–13th century

Before the 13th century, many empires were considered to be

"core" states, such as the Persian, Indian, and Roman empires, the
Muslim Caliphates, the Chinese and Egyptian dynasties, the
various Mesopotamian kingdoms, and so on.

In Asia, the Chinese Empire was considered the middle kingdom

and controlled the region.[2] The two empires communicated and
Umayyad Caliphate in 750 AD traded through the Silk Route, which takes its name from the
extensive trade of Chinese silk.[3]

India until the 13th century, often referred to as Greater India, extended its religious, cultural, and trading
influence on vast Asian regions from Iran and Afghanistan to Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia.[4] With
Buddhism and Hinduism, two of the most followed religions in Asia and the World as a whole, having
originated there, India's cultural impact spread throughout Asia. A notable example is China, where
Buddhism became the prominent religion.[5] Sanskrit was a
prominent scholarly language in all the southeastern kingdoms
until the 10th century C.E.. Angkor Vat of Cambodia, the
largest temple complex in the world, was originally a Hindu
temple and later transformed into a Buddhist monastery.

13th–15th century

Mongol Empire 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)

Pax Mongolica is a particularly important period which started in

1206 and ended, according to contradicting sources, between late
Expansion of the Mongol Empire 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 largest contiguous 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 Central Asia, Middle East, and
India.[6]

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.[7] The Mongols
controlled their territories through military force and taxation. In
many regions of the Mongol territory, Mongol rule is remembered
as brutal and destructive. Yet, some argue that many economic and
cultural improvements were made during the Mongol Empire's
rule.[8]

Ottoman territories acquired between

Ottoman Empire
1481 and 1683 (see list of territories)
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 the Black and Mediterranean seas. Despite lasting three times longer than
the Mongol Empire, the Ottoman Empire never came to be anywhere near as expansive.[9]

15th–18th century

Prior to the 16th century, feudalism took over Western European society and pushed Western Europe on a
road to capitalist development. Population and commerce grew rapidly within the feudal system during the
years of 1150–1300. Through the years 1300–1450, an economic downfall came about. The feudalism
growth had come to an end.[10] 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; afterward, the
economy began to shrink.
3. A shift of climatological
conditions decreased
agricultural productivity and
contributed to an increase in
epidemics within the
population."[10]

The feudal crisis lead to the

development of the world economic
system. The world economic system
came about during the late 15th and
early 16th centuries. The most
dominant of Northwestern Europe
were England, France, and the
Netherlands (see map of Western
Europe on the right). These countries
took on the definition of a core A map of Western Europe
country. They developed a strong
central government, bureaucracies,
and grew their military power. 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, development of a stronger military, and involvement of the country in a vast number of
different economic activities. After these attempts to gain the "core" status, north-western European states
locked in their positions as core states by 1640. England dominated the pack, as Spain and Italy fell to
semi-peripheral status.[10]

One factor that helped the core countries dominate over the other countries is 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 positions
held strong up and throughout the 18th century, even as the core regions started to produce a mixture of
agricultural and industrial goods. At the beginning of 1700, manufacture of goods in industrial productions
started to take off. Industrial production soon took over the agricultural production up to the year 1900.[10]

18th–early 19th century

As states continued to grow technologically, especially through printing journals and newspapers,
communication was more widespread. Thus, the global society was united through this force.[11] 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.[12]

Keeping in mind the interactions of states 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. States had to defend their ships while also establishing territories elsewhere to
ensure successful trade for themselves.[13] By the middle of the 17th century, the "foundations of the
modern world system had been laid."[14]
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 or of the Middle East. However, through organizing its
economics and improving technology in industry, European countries took the lead as the most powerful
states in the late 18th century and remained in this position until late in the 20th century.[15]

In the 18th century, 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.[16] Hence, although Europe was wealthy, this dynamic shows that there may be a reversal of
power because it was consistently expanding 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.[15]

Slave trade

The 18th century was profoundly marked by the slave trade. Slavery was present in civilizations on all
continents throughout post-hunter-gatherer history. The importation of slaves from the Old World started on
continental North America in August 1619 as a form of indentured servitude, and 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.[17] Because of
this trade, the dependent states remained dependent as their populations were suffering from the slave
trade.[18]

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. population consisted of 37.5%
slaves.[18]

Early 19th century–present

At the beginning of the 19th century, Europe still

dominated as the core region of the world. France
attempted to obtain European hegemony under the
rule of Napoleon Bonaparte.[19]

In 1871, Germany became united and established

themselves as the leading industrial state on the
European mainland.[20] Their desire to dominate the Map showing the British Empire in 1921
mainland helped them to become a core state. After
the First World War, Europe was decimated, and the
position for new core states was opening up.[21] This culminated with the defeat of Nazi Germany in the
Second World War, when Britain was forced to sacrifice its hegemony, allowing the United States and the
Soviet Union to become world superpowers and major cores.[22] The USSR lost its core status following
its collapse in 1991.[23]

List of current core countries

The following are core according to Chase-Dunn, Kawano, Brewer (2000).[24]

 Australia Austria Belgium Canada Denmark

Finland France Germany Ireland Italy

Japan Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal

Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States

Below is the core listing according to Babones (2005), who notes that this list is composed of countries that
"have been consistently classified into a single one of the three zones [core, semi-periphery or periphery] of
the world economy over the entire 28-year study period".[25]

Australia Austria Belgium Canada Denmark

Finland France Germany Greece Hong Kong

Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Japan

Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Norway Singapore

Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States

Sociological theory
The World Systems Theory argues that a state'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 have the
objective to gain more control over the global market (to become a core country), while causing another
state 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.[26]

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.[27]

Key qualifiers
In order for a country to remain a core or to become a core, possible investors must be kept in mind when
state'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.[28]

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.[28]

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.[27] Core countries could also be viewed as the capitalist class while the periphery
countries could be viewed as a disordered working class.[29] In a capitalism-driven market, core countries
exchange goods with the poor states at an unequal rate greatly in favor of the core countries.[30]

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 state's 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.[31]

Effects
A disadvantage to core states 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.[31] This can make
it difficult for governments to change regulatory standards that may sacrifice high profits.

An example of a change that capitalism does not favor is the abolition of slavery. During the early
industrialization and growth of the American economy, exports produced by slaves played a huge role in
making businesses the most profit.[32] Such movements to abolish slavery and spread equality caused an
internal war within the United States.

See also
Core-periphery
Dependency theory
Developing country
First World

References
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