Galtung’s Center-Periphery Model
center
Center
First world
countries
periphery
Richest 10 % in the First World take 29% of
total national incomes. USA, the richest 20%
consume 60%; the poorest 20% consume 3%.
rural areas; workers, farmers, poor
Poorest 10% in the First World get
2.5 % of total national incomes.
disharmony
harmony
center
cities; rich, elites, companies
Richest 10% of Latin Americans
take 48% of total national
incomes. Brazil: 3% of pop (190
Periphery
Third world,
& since 1990,
Second world
countries
cities; rich, elites, multi-nationals
periphery
million) own 66% of arable land.
35,000 families control 50% of
farmland.
rural areas; workers, farmers, poor
Poorest 10% of Latin Americans get
1.6% of total national incomes.
Galtung’s Center-Periphery Model
Examples
Center-center: all of the US intelligence budget & 40
% of the
United
States
defense budget is secret. CIA devoted $28 billion to study the
periphery
Soviet
Union (USSR), yet in the 1980s they never noticed the
Other examples
The
top 10 percent ofcollapse of the USSR.
economic
Chinese households
have 57 percent of
national income.
Center-center: US budget for international affairs: 93% to
South
Africa is the7% to State Department.
Pentagon;
most unequal society in
the world. The top 10
percent of households
(almost all Whites)
pocketed 58 percent of the
national income
Center-center: 1.4 million US military people around the world in
725 military bases from Iceland to Japan.
Center-center: British empire on the eve of the World War I had a
trade surplus of 7% of GDP; USA, for the last 15 years, has had a
trade deficit of 5% every year – imperial overreach?center
Galtung’s Center-Periphery Model
Three Stages of Imperialism
1) plunder
2) barter
3) monetary exchange:
In 2008, 72 % of Americans haggled compared
with 56 % in 2007. They were successful about
80 % of the time.
Since World War II, the USA has dominated world
financial institutions, such as the World Bank and
Internal Monetary Fund (IMF), world trade
organizations (GATT and WTO), and regional trade
associations (NAFTA and FTAA).
Meanwhile, illegal, or underground, economies play important
roles: 8% of GDP in USA; 22% in Italy; 25% in Greece
Galtung’s Center-Periphery Model
Five Types of Imperialism
1) economic:
A) U.S. blockades of Cuba and Nicaragua in violation of
United Nation resolutions
B) U.S. security inspections in major ports around the world
(Would the U.S. allow other countries to inspects its ports?)
Galtung’s Center-Periphery Model
Five Types of Imperialism
 economic: US blockades of Cuba, Nicaragua, etc. in violation of
United Nation resolution
 economic:
income inequality
around the world

political: Chile, 1973 – 400 USA CIA agents assisted Augusto
Pinochet, commander-in-chief of the army, to kill President
Salvador Allende and overthrow his freely elected socialist
government. U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said: Chilean
people were irresponsible in voting for Allende!
Galtung’s Center-Periphery Model
Five Types of Imperialism
2) political: Chile, 1973 – 400 USA CIA agents assisted
Augusto Pinochet, commander-in-chief of the army, to kill
President Salvador Allende and overthrow his freely elected
socialist government. U.S. Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger said: “Chilean people were irresponsible in voting
for Allende”!
3) military: U.S. invasions in . . .
• Vietnam ($500 billion)
• Panama (3,000 killed)
• Grenada (1983, President Ronald Reagan wanted to get rid of socialist govt. United
Nations General Assembly condemned it as "a flagrant violation of international law“),
•
•
Afghanistan (dead: 70,000 Afghans & 3,400 U.S. soldiers;
$2 trillion costs)
Iraq ($2.2 trillion, including veterans’ medial and disability
costs)
Galtung’s Center-Periphery Model
The United States has 730 military bases around the world
View another map of U.S. involvement.
Galtung’s Center-Periphery Model
As imperial power, Britain has invaded all the countries shown in red, except 22
(not shown: Sao Tome and Principe)!
Galtung’s Center-Periphery Model
Five Types of Imperialism
4) communication, e.g., U.S. computer expertise, air travel
are all in English (heritage of the British empire)
5) cultural, e.g., movies, music:
 U.S. movies 83% of global cinema box-office revenues
 U.S. software is so popular that much of it is illegally
copied in countries like China, India, Russia, and Brazil.
Galtung’s Center-Periphery Model
Extra
Galtung’s Center-Periphery Model
Summary of US Imperialism in Latin America
Mexico lost about half its territory to the United States in the war of
1846-48. Only 11% of the Mexicans have mainly a favorable view
USA. Cubans resent the United States ever since 1898, when their
hard- and long-fought war of independence against Spain was stolen
from them by the yanquis in the Spanish-American War.
The United States had made some 30 military interventions in and
around the Caribbean by the early 20th century, many of them under
Smedley Butler, a marine corps general, who summed up his career
and the attitude of the USA government:
“I helped make Honduras “right” for American fruit companies in
1903. I helped make Mexico safe for American oil interests in 1914.
I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City
Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a
dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I
helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of
Brown Brothers in 1909-12. I brought light to the Dominican
Republic for American sugar interests in 1916.”