Center-Periphery Structures and Dependency: A Theoretical and Methodological Proposal

Abstract

Capitalist world-economy is composed of center-periphery structures where central countries exercise a higher structural power than the periphery. In order to gain a better theoretical and empirical understanding of this asymmetry of power, this paper proposes a brief theoretical discussion and interpretation of some intuitions coming from the works of Cardoso and Faletto (1979) and Marini (1973). Taking those intuitions as theoretical motivation, the paper proposes a methodology focused on the empirical evaluation of the existence of centers, sub-centers, semi-peripheral and peripheral countries which “minimize” the structural power of the periphery. The methodology is applied to world trade networks composed of 100 countries from 1992 to 2017 for which it has been possible to build multiple maps that describe the distribution of influence among countries and regions. The main result of this application is the evidence found in favor of the existence of central-peripheral structures as well as evidence on how the United States and China are struggling to consolidate their influence over multiple peripheral regions of the world.