Periphery Countries - Background

Background

Periphery countries are those that exist on the outer edges of global trade. There could be many reasons for a country to be considered peripheral, such as a dysfunctional or inefficient government. For example, some nations customs and ports are so inefficient that even though they are geographically closer it is cheaper to ship goods from longer distances. Other reasons such as wars, non-central location, insufficient infrastructure (rail lines, roads and communications) will keep a country in the periphery of global trade. Generally the populations tend to be poor and destitute so the core countries will exploit them for cheap labor and will even purposely interfere with their politics to keep things this way. Usually a peripheral country will specialize in one particular industry, leaving it vulnerable to economic instability and limiting international investment. Sometimes countries decide to isolate themselves, such as 14th century China.