The World Systems Theory developed by Immanuel Wallerstein is a way of explaining world history that shows that some nations benefit from the world economic system, while others do not and are even exploited.
Under the World Systems Theory, there are three different divisions: the core countries, which are the industrialized capitalist nations in the world, the semi-periphery countries, which are mostly capitalist and are industrializing, and finally, the periphery countries that are less developed than core and semi-periphery countries. In this article, we’ll focus on the periphery countries.
Periphery countries have just a small share of the world’s wealth. These nations are not just dependent on other nations but are often exploited by more developed countries. Some characteristics of periphery countries include unstable governments, poor education systems, and poor health systems.
According to socialist Salvatore Babones, the world’s periphery countries include:
- Bangladesh
- Benin
- Bolivia
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Chile
- China
- Congo
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Guinea-Bissau
- Haiti
- Honduras
- India
- Indonesia
- Kenya
- Lesotho
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mauritania
- Nepal
- Niger,
- Nigeria
- Papua New Guinea
- Philippines
- Rwanda
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Solomon Islands
- Sri Lanka
- Sudan
- Togo
- Zambia
A different list was made for “Trade Globalization since 1795: Waves of Integration on the World-System.” While there are some similarities, this list features more nations. Those countries are:
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic Dominican Republic Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana Haiti, Honduras, Hungary Iraq Jamaica, Jordan Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria Oman Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico Romania, Rwanda, Russian Federation Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Syrian Arab Republic Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay Venezuela, Vietnam Yemen Zambia, Zimbabwe