| Summary/Abstract |
Studies on the pattern according to which national power is allocated between nation states have historically focused on the great powers and the emerging powers. However, these powers are quite limited to a few dozen while the remainder of the countries, which correspond to the ‘weak states’, total more than a hundred. How is the distribution of power configured within the periphery? In what way is the international performance of each state conditioned by its endowment of national power? Although the theoretical bases on the periphery are broad and were specially developed in Latin America from the so-called ‘dependency theory’, there is a lack of studies that observe the configuration and distribution of national power in this area. This research generates a theoretical-methodological framework for the study of the rise and fall of the peripheral states. With the support of quantitative techniques, the size and composition of its national power are determined, and four new categories of states are discovered: Subregional Powers, Middle Peripheral States, Minor Peripheral States and Subperipheral States. The findings and the processed data provide a cutting-edge underpinning for future ‘peri-centric’ study cases.
|