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SEMIPERIPHERAL STATES IN THE WORLD ECONOMY. Edited by William G. Martin. New York: Greenwood Press. 1990. viii, 238 pp. (Figures, tables.) US$49.95, cloth. ISBN 0-313-27489-4.
DETRACTORS of world-systems theory typically grant no more than metaphoric status to Wallerstein's tri-modal structure of core, semiperiphery, and periphery. Since the concept of the semiperiphery is the most tenuous one within that schema, a focus on development within the semiperiphery is an excellent strategy for de-reifying world-systems theory and for providing the historically specific accounts that demonstrate movement up and down the international stratification hierarchy. Martin's book offers eleven compact and instructive essays on the dynamics of semiperipheral development in the modern global economy.
In the introductory section of the book, Martin discusses the central theme underlying the nine reported empirical studies -- the extent to which global forces (i.e., oligopolistic pressures from the core, and economic competition from the periphery) undercut the ability of semiperipheral states to...