A core is generally a country or area within a particular country which has a high standard of living and good quality

of life while a periphery is a country or area within a specific country which has a low standard of living and poor quality of life. (i)

Explain what is meant by a core-periphery relationship on an international level. [5]

On an international level, core refers to DCs like colonial powers (Britain, France, Netherlands) while periphery refers to LDCs like some former colonies (Malaya & Singapore, French Indo-China, Indonesia) Generally, core country better employment opportunities in secondary & tertiary industries due to presence of infra-structure like transport cum telecommunication links, wealth, good housing, access to electricity & piped water supply, schools, hospitals & amenities like shopping & entertainment, hence attractive to foreign investment. Periphery country fundamentally agriculture & mining based economy with limited infrastructure, limited access to social services, hence fewer job opportunities. Interaction between core & periphery or core-periphery relationship brings about disparity between DCs & LDCs. Periphery provides core with resources like cheap raw materials & labour thus enhancing industrial expansion & wealth accumulation in core. Meanwhile, periphery drained of labour because workers from periphery attracted to better paid jobs in core. Periphery drained of wealth because periphery is supplier of cheap raw materials but market for higher priced manufactured consumer products from core Periphery buys higher priced value-add manufactured products from core because of their inability to industrialise due to lack of technological expertise & capital. Inflow of foreign exchange from sale of cheap raw materials may be insufficient to pay for imports. Hence, core develops at expense of periphery or backwash effect, causing widening of income gap between them. Sometimes spread effect by core such as providing employment & transfer of technology to periphery stimulates development of periphery, hence bridging development gap