Introduction

Abstract

Dudley Seers, the eminent representative of a group of researchers I subsume as ‘European Dependency School’ (EDS) in this book, emphasized the importance of core–periphery relations in Europe and for the Western European integration process in as early as the 1970s. Core–periphery relations in development studies reflect uneven socio-spatial developments. Behind the appearance of spatial hierarchy between regions and states in ‘late’ or ‘monopoly’ or ‘transnational’ capitalism, there lies a matrix of actors’ relations with unevenly distributed political, economic, and military power such as governments, classes, and transnational companies. These uneven power relations make core–periphery relations a complex issue.