How Can We Distinguish Core and Periphery Area of world?
The world is separated into core and periphery parts, however the recent improvement of the globe, more and more countries are becoming industrialised. Nowadays, it's not even be able to just define as only "core" and "periphery" parts of the world. NICs (Newly Industrialised Countries), such as Thailand, Vietnam, etc are now label as "semi-periphery" countries. The question is, is it enough just divide into "core", "semi-periphery" and "periphery", should we divide into more stages? Or just keep the way it is now?
Core countries are countries with global scale companies' headquarters, like Apple, and owns the products dealing the last process of production of goods, or providing services and selling goods to semi-periphery and periphery countries. Also core countries has powerful economic system, politics, cultural power that has certain power influence the world, recognise by the world. Countries such as United Kingdom, United States, Japan, Germany, etc. Periphery countries on the other hand are countries provides row materials and cheap labour to core and semi-periphery countries. Usually they are countries with poor economy, such as Kenya, Mongolia, etc. Semi-periphery has characteristics from both core and periphery, those countries provides cheaper labour to the core with more advanced skills of manufacturing, meanwhile provide cheaper goods and services to periphery compare to the core. Most countries are recognise as semi-periphery. The picture below shows examples of countries that are core, semi-periphery, and periphery, from Cambridge Geography for IB Diploma - Global Interaction written by Paul Guinness.
Global Cities, since a country's total entity might not advanced enough to be consider as one of global core, which made global cities exists. Some cities are may be consider as one of important economic sector, which is called "Global Cities". A.T Kearney index, is an index measures how much a city is influential to the global economy (mostly), culture, politics. According to the ranking from A.T Kearney 2016, London ranked the 1st, New York comes to the 2nd, from looking at the rankings some cities are from semi-periphery countries, yet most of cities are located in the core countries.
To distinguish from core, and periphery countries, the theory of global south would be the easiest way to distinguish. However, this only distinguish core and periphery, not include the semi-periphery. The map below from Cambridge Geography for IB Diploma - Global Interaction written by Paul Guinness, shows the line of dividing between core and periphery. However, in this map it doesn't show the semi-periphery clearly, this is a map only tells most of core countries are in the north, while most of periphery are in the south.
Different aspects from different people changes the determine of core, semi-periphery and periphery areas of the world. Meanwhile some countries are hard be to categorise, such as China. A country with rapid economic, political strength, lacking cultural power, which has the strength of consider as a core. Yet, haven't be recognise as a core country, maybe even when China reaches or even get over the strength of other countries in the core, not be able to be a part of core country.