The Concept of the Periphery as a Constitutive Part of the Capitalist World System Hartmut Elsenhans Imperialism World Systems Export-Led Manufacturing Development Euro-Arab Cooperation The category "periphery" is useful for describing positions in the international system. The analytical content however, is limited: Under capitalist conditions, overcoming "underdevelopment"/peripheral positions in the world system do not depend on the availability of surplus. Instead, overcoming "underdevelopment" has been achieved by devaluation-driven, export-oriented manufacturing, and therefore, by deliberately accepting exploitation for achieving comparative advantage. With regards to the MENA region, this "East Asian strategy" seems unfit because of limited capacities in wage goods production, especially food. Philipps-Universität Marburg Marburg Deutschhausstraße 9, 35037 Marburg 2015 2015-11-03 2018-01-31 Text article urn:nbn:de:hebis:04-0003-2015-103-37930 eng 2714728-9 5 1 https://journals.uni-marburg.de/0003/article/download/3793/3667 10.17192/meta.2015.5.3793 https://journals.uni-marburg.de/0003/2015/103/3793