The Dictionary of Human Geography

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Evidence for individual nations shows that

this prediction does not necessarily hold true.

For example, regional incomes in the USA

show steady convergence from the latter part

of the nineteenth century up to the 1970s.

However, individual regions had their own

trajectory, reflecting their historical experience

of greater or lesser movement towards the

national average income, which complicates a

simple picture of regular convergence. In add-

ition, the convergence thesis depends on the

geographicalscaleadopted: the trend towards

reduced inequality at a broad regional scale

can be contradicted more locally; for example,

betweencore and peripheryand within the

city. Thus in the USA convergence at a broad

regional scale has been accompanied by local

divergence between city and countryside and

amongneighbourhoods.

Regional convergence is not confined to

capitalist economies and, indeed, may be

more marked under asocialistsystem that

has the equalization of regional living stand-

ards as an explicit objective. For example, a

strong convergence tendency could be

observed among the republics of the former

Soviet Union, although this may have been

reversed during the so-called ‘era of stagna-

tion’ that precededperestroikaand the eventual

collapse ofcommunism.

There is evidence also of reversals of conver-

gence in the capitalist world, including the

USA, with inter-regional inequality increasing

since the 1970s. In the UK, divergence can be

observed among regions since the early 1980s,

in GDP per capita and other measures of

income. The fact that this has ocurred during

an era of dedication to the freemarketsuggests

limits to the extent of regional convergence

towards perfect equality under capitalism,

in practice if not in theory. Indeed, the earlier

era of more positive regionalplanningmay

have taken the country further in the direction

ofequalitythan would have been the case

under less restrained market forces. This sug-

gests that, after a certain level in the conver-

gence process has been reached, state

intervention in the form ofregional policyis

a necessary if not sufficient condition for fur-

ther convergence. dms

Suggested reading

Caselli and Coleman (2001); Martin (2001a);

Sokol (2001); Williamson (1966).

co-operative An enterprise formed by an

association of members with the aim of pro-

moting their common economic interests.

Historically, co-operatives have formed to

enhance the selling power of independent,

family-based producers; thus they have been

most prevalent in thefarmingsector (Moran,

Blundern and Bradley, 1996). Sellers’ co-

operatives sharemarketand pricing informa-

tion, and may act as a single seller to secure

better prices. The co-operative form has also

been used to enhance purchasing power

(bulk purchases) and to share the costs of

food processing. In recent years, producer co-

operatives have formed hand in glove withfair

tradeinitiatives to improve the working condi-

tions and income of peasant producers. jgu

Suggested reading

Cobia (1989).

core^periphery model A model of system-

atic patterns of uneven development in

the geography of human activity, based on

uneven distribution of power within and

between societies. Cores and peripheries can

be analysed at a variety of geographicscales,

including uneven regional development within

national economies and uneven development

at a global scale.

The development of cores and peripheries

within nationaleconomieswas a topic of con-

siderable concern to national development

planners and urban and regional geographers

in the early post-Second World War period.

Particularly in developing countries, unbal-

anced growth between dominant, typically

highly primate, urban centres and agrarian

regions of the country led to a variety of exer-

cises in promoting regional and secondary city

development (seedual economy). However,

the strength of existing economic cores and

the failure of many decentralization projects

has led in recent decades to less enthusiasm

for state policies that attempt to overcome

core–periphery structures at a national level,

while uneven development is increasingly seen

as central to the dynamics of capitalism

(Smith, 2008 [1984]).

The notion of cores and peripheries at a

global scale is associated with the work of a

variety ofdevelopmenteconomists, but has

been an especially pronounced feature of

approaches such as dependency theory

(Frank, 1967) andworld-systems analysis

(Wallerstein, 1979). Assessments of core–

periphery dynamics at a global scale have typ-

ically taken national states and economies as

important constituents of the global system,

and have thus identified somestatesas being

part of the global core and others as part of the

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_C Final Proof page 115 31.3.2009 9:45pm

CORE–PERIPHERY MODEL