Semiperipheral Development

by Giovanni Arrighi

Published 26 September 1985
Semiperipheral Development is the first book to place the history of Southern Europe in comparative and world-historical context by seeking to chart and explain common political-economic developments in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Arrighi focuses on the convergence of these countries′ experiences in the context of the current world-system:

`Just as the convergence of the five countries towards authoritarian regimes and neo-mercantilist policies came to a head in the course of the world political-economic crisis of the 1930′s, so their convergence towards parliamentary regimes and neo-liberal policies has come to a head during the world political-economic crisis of the 1970′s′.