10.17192/meta.2015.5.3793
Elsenhans, Hartmut
Hartmut
Elsenhans
The Concept of the Periphery as a Constitutive Part of the Capitalist World System
Middle East - Topics + Arguments : Vol 5 (2015)
Philipps-Universität Marburg
2015
World Systems
Development
Imperialism
Euro-Arab Cooperation
Export-Led Manufacturing
Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies (CNMS)
2018-01-31
2015-11-03
JournalArticle
https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0003/2015/103/3793
urn:nbn:de:hebis:04-ep0003-2015-103-37937
https://doi.org/10.17192/meta.2015.5.103
https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0003/2015/103/3793/3793.png
2196-629X
application/pdf
The category "periphery" is useful for describing positions in the international system. The analytical content however, is limited: Under capitalist conditions, overcoming "underdevelopment"/peripheral positions in the world system do not depend on the availability of surplus. Instead, overcoming "underdevelopment" has been achieved by devaluation-driven, export-oriented manufacturing, and therefore, by deliberately accepting exploitation for achieving comparative advantage. With regards to the MENA region, this "East Asian strategy" seems unfit because of limited capacities in wage goods production, especially food.