Semi-periphery Countries Research Articles

Debating on Transport Corridors of Azerbaijan in the Context of Globalization

This paper investigates the impact of globalization on transportation corridors in Azerbaijan, which are strategically located to serve as hubs for crossroads between north-south and east-west trade. The main hypothesis is that globalization has had a significant impact on transportation corridors in Azerbaijan, resulting in greater connectivity and trade flows within the region. The recent triumph over Armenia has resulted in significant changes in the region, enhancing Azerbaijan's reputation. Alongside the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions on Russia and Iran, Azerbaijan has emerged as a secure passage between these influential powers. Furthermore, the rising demands for major international trade routes have created a pressing need for Azerbaijan to enhance its capabilities to effectively meet these growing requirements. According to the World Systems Theory, semi-periphery countries play the role of bridges between core and periphery states. Globalization has led to Azerbaijan's integration into the global economic system as a semi-peripheral country. This has resulted in increased trade and investment, which in turn has led to the development of transportation infrastructure and the expansion of transportation networks.

‘Definitely plan to read them’: cultural goodwill as habitus of a middle class-in-the-making in Czech Republic

Cultural hierarchies enable an understanding of how consumption takes part in the reproduction of social inequalities in current societies. The changing nature of these hierarchies reveals a tension between established and emerging forms of cultural capital. This article explores this tension in the context of an understudied European cultural semi-periphery country. It focuses on young university students in a social milieu where new trends, established legitimate culture and cosmopolitan cultural flows intersect. The article uses a mixed-method approach and analyses cultural space both through survey data and follow-up in-depth interviews. Detailed exploration of cultural repertoires shows that while survey analysis shows both established and emerging forms of legitimate culture, there is widespread deference among the students towards the former. While cultural goods associated with emerging cultural capital are widely consumed, they are not related to repertoires of legitimisation. This points to the continuing importance of national institutions and their pedagogical practices in delineating what is understood as legitimate culture.

International Institutions as Forms and Fora: Rao Geping and the Law of International Organizations in China

Abstract This article examines the emergence and development in China of the discipline of international organizations law by specifically focusing on the scholarship of Professor Rao Geping, a founding figure of the discipline. Rao’s writings are read in light of his personal life and professional career as well as China’s economic and social reforms and its foreign policy. A communitarian, cooperative and legal approach to international organizations emerged as Rao’s choice. International organizations are seen mostly as fora for interstate deliberations and negotiations and are approached mainly from their procedural aspect and channelling function. What has been highlighted is a facilitative, procedural and instrumental conception of international organizations rather than an autonomous, functional or regulatory one. Rao advocates an inclusive approach to international organizations, which tends to include flexible, informal frameworks into the ambit of the study of international organizations. In constructing institutions as forms and fora, Rao’s writings effectively play a double role, translating the liberal, progressive ideas of international organizations into domestic international legal studies and facilitating China’s continuous economic reform and political integration into the international system. Rao’s scholarship presents an instructive example of how a scholar from a semi-periphery country may navigate various tensions and paradoxes behind universal concepts and negotiate their concept of international organizations.

Global ginseng trade networks: structural characteristics and influencing factors.

Background: Ginseng is a rare and highly valued Chinese materia medica with a rich trading history and has a wide range of application, including medicine, food, healthcare, and daily chemical production. However, the global trade of ginseng exhibits diverse features and uneven development across different countries and regions. Surprisingly, the intricate network relationship and the underlying characteristics and influencing factors of ginseng trade networks remain unexplored. Methods: This study analyzed ginseng trade data obtained from the UN-Comtrade database and used social network analysis to construct global ginseng trade networks. To elucidate the structural characteristics, we analyzed the indicators of the overall network structure and node attributes. Core-periphery analysis is used to examine the evolutionary patterns within the global ginseng trade networks. Furthermore, we apply the quadratic assignment procedure to investigate the impact and relevance of spatial proximity, cultural differences, economic indicators, population size, technological similarity, and institutional distance. Results: The findings reveal that the global ginseng trade networks exhibit typical small-world and scale-free properties, as well as a core-periphery structure. Several core countries, including China, South Korea, Germany, and the United States, exert significant control over both trade volume and trade partners. South Korea and China initially occupied central positions in the export market due to their resource endowments, their prominence has gradually diminished with the ascendancy of Germany and the United States. According to the core-periphery analysis, the ginseng trade has shown a gradual concentration within specific trade groups comprising core and semi-periphery countries, most of which are along the "Belt and Road" religion. We also found that geographic distance and GDP per capita exert negative effects on ginseng trade, while factors such as land adjacency, technology and economic gap, population size, and institution similarity play significant positive roles. Conclusion: The global ginseng trade has experienced increasing concentration and close linkage among a limited numbers of participants. It is crucial to pay close attention to the relationship between ginseng industry development and resource conservation. Strategies such as expanding trade channels, implementing trade substitution measures, and optimizing the quality and standards of ginseng products can effectively enhance trade security.

How the UEFA Champions League divided Europe and harmed competitive balance within domestic leagues

ABSTRACT By fulfilling the gaps in the competitive balance literature in the sports industry and referring to Resource Dependence Theory, we analysed the mutually dependent relationship between UEFA and elite European football clubs, and precisely, elite clubs’ attempt to establish European Super League. Then, we examined the competitive balance within the top five European leagues and the UEFA Champions League and how unprecedented hegemony has occurred such that Juventus, Bayern Munich, PSG, Manchester City, and Barcelona won at least half of their national league titles in the last decade. Findings suggested that firstly participation rules and revenue distribution policies applied by UEFA in the Champions League may have harmed the competitive balance within national leagues. Secondly, increasing financial differences due to UEFA’s policies might also increase the power asymmetry between the top five and semi-periphery countries. Finally, we discussed what UEFA and football federations should do to eliminate these competitive disadvantages.

Disentangling the semi-periphery: evolutionary trajectories and perspectives of the Austrian and Hungarian automotive industries

ABSTRACT This article explores the transition of integrated periphery countries to a semi-periphery status. It sets out to refine the broad category of ‘semi-periphery’, distinguishing between upper and lower-order semi-periphery. It shows that compared to established members of the automotive semi-periphery, newcomers are often poorly equipped to thrive in the new competitive environment. Since it takes decades of organic accumulation to develop competitive assets that provide resilience, newcomers that used to thrive in the competitive environment of the integrated periphery often turn out to be the weakest members in the semi-periphery. Based on expert interviews, the article illustrates the theoretical arguments comparing the evolutionary trajectories of the Austrian and Hungarian automotive industries. We show that Austria, exemplifying the case of within-category upgrading (within the upper semi-periphery), can leverage its strong innovation potential, dense network of capable domestic-owned suppliers, tradition of cluster-based and industry – university collaboration, and developed market for technology. In contrast, the between-category transition of Hungary was propelled by the rising wage-level, while other indicators would not qualify it for the club of semi-periphery countries. Evolutionary trajectories in the lower-order semi-periphery can easily be derailed if industrial policy gets stuck in its – previously highly effective – integrated-periphery role.

Challenge of “Decolonisation” and Need for a Comprehensive Redefinition of Neocolonialism

The need for “decolonisation” of the Second world and semi-periphery countries (in the terminology of world-systems analysis) is increasingly raised in practical policy as well as in academic publications. However, the very question of decolonisation as applied to countries that were the targets of European colonial expansion is fraught with both negative consequences in political practice and theoretical confusion. On the one hand, the discourse of “decolonisation” encourages separatist tendencies and leads to new conflicts. On the other hand, the notion of “colonialism” is becoming less rigorous: in this perspective, any territorial expansion by any state at any time in history can be described as colonialism. The notion of “colonialism” loses its specific historical meaning and hence turns from a scientific term into a propaganda cliché. Thus, the possibility to correctly comprehend the phenomenon of European colonialism as a concrete historical reality that determined the fate of the peoples of both Europe itself and other parts of the world in Modern times, the only “colonialism” that the peoples of the world have really faced for the last 500 years, disappears. Theoretical and practical, scientific and political aspects of the problem are closely linked. Within an expansive interpretation of “colonialism”, former colonial powers, moreover, states still possessing unequal dependencies, such as the USA, are able to accuse their geopolitical opponents of “colonialism” as they are multi-ethnic powers, formed as a result of long historical processes, where various practices of ethnic interaction have taken place. The very possibility of interpreting the practices of non-European powers (Russia, China, Iran, Ethiopia) as colonial is linked to the popular paradigm of “internal colonialism.” It has emerged as part of the post-colonial theory of international relations in European and American academic centres and by its very nature is an example of a deliberately biased approach that focuses on the most marginalised groups of “subalterns” but ignores major civilisational entities. The author points out the biases and shortcomings of this approach with concrete examples, reveals its philosophical premises and suggests using the findings of fundamental geopolitics, world-systems theory, philosophy of space and philosophy of culture to clarify the concept of “colonialism.”

Social Structures of Accumulation in a Semiperiphery Country

This article claims that the world-system approach can serve as a mediating force in understanding the social structure(s) of accumulation (SSA) dynamics in Turkey. The argument for using the world-system approach has two complementary supports. First, the Turkish SSAs are driven by the capitalist world economy. As such, the author focuses on Turkey’s Westernization efforts and dependency on core countries and international organizations under their control. Second, domestic struggles and political decisions related to the Turkish SSAs are not limited to the main variables of the SSA theory, such as labor-capital conflict, profit rate, and economic crises. Thus, the author shows that phenomena such as the religion-secularity conflict, the struggle between anti-imperialism and anticommunism, and military interventions are crucial in SSA formations. In support of this argumentation, the author discusses the regulationist and neoliberal SSAs in Turkey. JEL Classification: J50, J08, B51, P16

Global Economic Mechanisms and Szeklerland

This paper identifies the opportunities for development and take-off points by taking into account the operation, processes and basic principles of the global economy. The current economic situation of the region mentioned will be detailed using macroeconomic indicators such as GDP, foreign direct investment, the HDI index and infrastructural networks. It becomes evident that the focus of this paper is a semi-periphery region of a semi-periphery country, which, in addition to the stagnation of the current situation, is inching towards the periphery. It is essential to explore the main routes through which the future development of the region might be reoriented towards a modern and competitive economy in the current global environment. It is therefore not specific solutions, but development paths that this paper outlines. The obvious handicaps are, however, coupled with unique opportunities, such as natural resources, biodiversity, traditions and a strategic geographic location. The free flow of labour, goods and capital has become a cross-border and intertwined reality, and significantly influence the economies of all countries and regions. The migration of capital and the division of labour it results in assign roles to states and global regions. In this capacity, they connect to networks whose micro-interactions outline the entirety of the global economic landscape. The Szeklerland is not an administratively recognised region; it is surrounded by psychological borders, and represents a cultural, ethnic, historical entity based on tradition. Although the push for its recognition is still ongoing, as evidenced by the efforts of representative bodies such as the Minority SafePack initiative for the protection of minorities, global processes and laws still apply to it, influencing both its present and expected future path. Despite the unfavourable historical background that has left its mark on its economic state to a significant extent, thus also shaping the ways in which it attained its current level of development, the region examined possesses significant potential, and with the appropriate measures, the possible future evolution of its economy may give cause for optimism. This, however, may only be accomplished if there is an appropriate infrastructural network underpinning the region, with the aim of ensuring the rapid movement of products, services, high volumes of data, information, the workforce and money. Digitisation plays an important part in this process, yet at the same time, technology transfer and innovation are both indispensable for increasing efficiency.

EVALUATION OF INTER-COUNTRY INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY DIFFERENCES IN TERMS OF DEVELOPMENT IN COREPERIPHERY RELATIONS

Institutional economics approach reveals that institutions are essential in increasing social welfare by
 comprehensively addressing social and economic life. At the same time, institutional economics approach
 proceeds similarly to the problems discussed in the development literature. This study evaluates the
 developmental differences between countries in core, semi-periphery and periphery countries according to
 institutional quality differences. In the first part of the analysis, the core (upper and lower), semi-periphery
 (upper, middle and lower) and periphery (upper, middle, and lower) country groups were determined by
 the club convergence method using the data between 1990 and 2017. The second part of the analysis tests
 the institutional approach that explains the development differences between countries for eight country
 groups. Findings have revealed the effect of economic freedom on development in all subgroups of core,
 semi-periphery, and peripheral countries. In addition, while the effect of democracy on development has
 an increasing effect in core and semi-periphery country groups, the results in peripheral countries are
 found statistically insignificant.

Challenges, feelings, and attitudes towards writing in ERPP in semi-periphery countries

AbstractThis paper addresses writing in ERPP for graduate students matriculated in a Mexican Public University where the medium of instruction is Spanish. The students who were involved in our study registered for an academic writing course in ERPP, and submitted a draft research article in English as part of the admission requirements. Following a mixed-method approach, through a survey and a semi-structured interview, we aimed to explore the various ways in which students use English for research and publication purposes, the discursive and non-discursive challenges they perceived while drafting the article, and their feelings and attitudes towards writing in ERPP. The findings suggest that the discursive and non-discursive challenges perceived were aggravated by the lack of critical-pragmatic approaches, the poor English writing skills developed for academic purposes, and the lack of support for editing their papers in English, particularly from thesis supervisors. This led them to experience feelings of anxiety, frustration and discomfort about writing in English. We would argue that this additional burden and pressure for graduate students to publish in English in semi-periphery countries translates into a lack of confidence and feeling of disadvantage in comparison with their counterparts located in anglophone research communities in centre countries.

Non-natives writing for Anglo-American journals: Challenges and urgent needs – A book review

This is a review of Non-natives writing for Anglo-American journals: Challenges and urgent needs by Katarzyna Hryniuk published in 2019 by Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego. Katarzyna Hryniuk is Assistant Professor in the Institute of English Studies at the University of Warsaw. Her research interests are foreign language learning and teaching, in particular developing writing skills in a foreign language and comparing Polish and Anglo-American conventions of academic writing, the issue that she pursues in the book reviewed here. The main aim of the monograph is to have a closer look at how Polish scholars approach a difficult task of writing academic articles for publication in prestigious Anglo-American journals. This aspect of academia seems particularly important in the light of the requirement to publish in international journals, which researchers in Poland and other semi periphery countries may find challenging to complete. In relation to the ERL framework, the book addresses the research topics discussed in the Language and Schooling strand. I believe academic writing presented from the perspective of the skills mastered by FL writers and the problems they face will always be an issue that deserves more attention of those interested in teaching and researching writing.

Relationship Among the Attributes of World Countries and Their Coverage in Tweets of International News Agencies: 2010–2016

Background/objectives: To examine the factors which can influence the presence of world countries in news tweets of international news agencies. Methodology: The study draws upon the World Systems Theory, which categorizes the world into Core, Semi-Periphery, and Periphery with respect to economic, political, and communication relationships. We attempt to study and compare the coverage of Core, Periphery, and Semi-Periphery countries in tweets of international news agencies. Scholars argue that certain attributes of a country make that country more newsworthy for international news agencies and also these factors contribute significantly in making these countries more prominent on the digital landscape of twitter. We used the method of content analysis of purposively selected tweets of four international news agencies; AFP, AP, Reuters, and Xinhua about the 15 sample countries, including Pakistan, for the period of 7 year from 2010– 2016. Findings: We found that there are significant differences in the coverage of world countries in tweets of international news agencies. Core and Semi-Periphery countries are given more coverage in international news tweets. Similarly, Core and SemiPeriphery countries are more retweeted and liked by the followers of international news agencies. Finally, we found that GDP is not the sole determinant of countries portrayal and their sharing on Twitter by the international news agencies and their followers. Novelty/ improvements: If a country, including Pakistan, wants to increase its sharing on Twitter, the country should develop its information sector and internet penetration should be accelerated. Keywords: International News Flow, World System Theory, News Tweets, News Determinants, Country Attributes.

Prospects for the development of the knowledge economy of Ukraine as an actor of the "semi-periphery" of Europe

In the XXI century the economic development of countries depends on the increasing role of the human factor in reproduction processes, as well as on the ability to generate innovative transformations. Therefore, examining the patterns of formation, distribution and functioning of the people's wealth, it can be argued that together with knowledge, human capital forms a new type of economy - the knowledge economy, which is the highest stage in the development of the post-industrial and innovative economy. The subject of research of the article is the formation of the knowledge economy as a new key factor in the development of national economies. The goal of this work is to analyze the factors of development of the Ukrainian economy as an actor of the "semi-periphery" of Europe. Task is to study the state and development prospects of the semi-periphery of Europe on the example of Ukraine. The article uses general scientific methods: the study of the development of economic processes was carried out on the basis of the method of scientific abstraction, general and partial. The most common scientific methods of cognition during this research: historical and logical method, analysis, synthesis, method of quantitative and qualitative comparisons, statistical method, economic and mathematical modeling. The following results were obtained: the statistical data characterizing the level of economic development of the semi-periphery countries of Europe and the state of Ukraine were systematized and analyzed, the coefficient of intra-industry international specialization was calculated. The systemic factors that have the greatest influence on the functioning and progress of the economy of the semi-periphery countries have been determined. The problems that hinder the development of semi-periphery actors on the example of Ukraine are highlighted and ways to overcome the shortcomings are proposed. Conclusions: it is advisable to use the results of the work in the domestic and foreign economic activity of countries as recommendations for determining the priority direction of development.

Three Decades After. Advancing Capitalism and the (Re)Production of Romania’s Semi-Peripherality

Abstract The article elaborates upon the production of Romania’s semi-peripherality at the intersection of long-durée dependency, uneven development, Eastern enlargement, and imperial politics, while addressing the advancement of capitalism not as a purely economic endeavour, but as a process of political subjection. It discusses the particular status of Romania in contemporary global capitalism by analysing the broader context of (1) a semi-periphery country subjected to a long-durée dependency; (2) uneven development underlay by imperial politics as endemic feature of the neoliberal European Union; (3) ‘Eastern enlargement’ and its economic conditionalities; (4) unevenness in the EU in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis. As its conclusion, the article notes that in the past three decades, each of these components had a productive (material or symbolic) function in the reproduction of Romanian’s semi-peripherality as part of capitalism’s advancement in the new Millennium.

Representation of sporting migrants: primary versus secondary

The use of foreigners in Czech basketball is examined as per its response to globalization using an analysis of print media. Basketball is a secondary sport in Czech culture and thus the globalization responses are less contested than might be expected based on previous sport migration studies in primary sports, and previous research showing Czech homogeny. The study parallels methodology initially outlined by Alan Klein, using a review of print media to study sport globalization; the results from a secondary sport are compared with those observed by Klein in a primary sport. The response to the phenomena of sport migration in the secondary sport of basketball in the semi-periphery country of the Czech Republic is shown to be one of commodification or passive cultural acceptance. This finding differs from the broader observations of rejection of foreigners in Czech identified by others, but is explained by the secondary position of basketball freeing it from ties to nationalism, collective identity and protected space in Czech culture. The cultural response found in Czech basketball also differs to that found in Dominican baseball by Klein, but the patterns of print media coverage demonstrate a high degree of similarity.

Limits of VoC and institutional complementarities in the semi-periphery: comparative analysis of reforms in Brazil and India

In VoC theories, adopted in OECD countries, the state does not fulfill an important role in the productive system. On the other hand, by analyzing the trajectory of the semi-periphery countries, there is no way to describe the mechanisms of institutional complementarity without holding the state in the center of the model. That’s the trajectories of Brazil and India. To evaluate the role of the state as a strategic actor in semiperipheral institutional complementarity this proposal suggests analyze the role of the state in the commanding heights of economic liberalization. In particular, the role of public banks and pension funds as anti-cyclical and coordinators actors of the new corporate ownership restructuring and external insertion adopted by large conglomerates in Brasil and India in the past ten years. Understanding this is crucial to point out the limits of theories of varieties of capitalism, providing assistance to expand its analytical scope.

Overseas expansion of Semi-periphery country language :A case study on Korean speakers in Vietnam

Overseas expansion of Semi-periphery country language :A case study on Korean speakers in Vietnam

International Expansion and Transition to the Network Structure of the Multinational Companies and Their Social Consequences

Economic globalization is associated with growing interconnectedness, interdependence and the integration of businesses into a single economic system, improving the competitiveness of businesses, and places new demands and requirements on firms. Companies that wanted to survive in a new, dynamic and competitive environment had to apply new development strategies, whose main motto was to reduce costs and to create greater flexibility on the global market. Many large companies managed huge cost reductions in the globalized economy through international expansion to the industrial periphery and semi-periphery countries (developing countries and Central and Eastern Europe) and through the transition from a pyramidal organizational structure to a network structure. The control centre of companies in a network organization deprives hierarchical and pyramidal corporate structures, rather temporarily joins a network of small suppliers, subcontractors and service providers. In the business environment networks are more flexible and adaptable than firms with a hierarchical structure. They are highly effective because they allow significant reductions in the operating costs of the company. On the other hand, the network structure of relations has a number of social consequences, such as the reduction in the number of employees, the rise in non-standard employment contracts and the abolition of responsibility.

Case studies on employment-related health inequalities in countries representing different types of labor markets.

The authors selected nine case studies, one country from each cluster of their labor market inequalities typology, to outline the macro-political and economic roots of employment relations and their impacts on health. These countries illustrate variations in labor markets and health, categorized into a global empirical typology. The case studies illustrated that workers' health is significantly connected with labor market characteristics and the welfare system. For a core country, the labor market is characterized by a formal sector. The labor institutions of Sweden traditionally have high union density and collective bargaining coverage and a universal health care system, which correlate closely with positive health, in comparison with Spain and the United States. For a semi-periphery country, the labor market is delineated by a growing informal economy. Although South Korea, Venezuela, and El Salvador provide some social welfare benefits, a high proportion of irregular and informal workers are excluded from these benefits and experience hazardous working conditions that adversely affect their health. Lastly, several countries in the global periphery--China, Nigeria, and Haiti--represent informal work and severe labor market insecurity. In the absence of labor market regulations, the majority of their workers toil in the informal sector in unsafe conditions with inadequate health care.