ABSTRACT
This chapter looks first at the relationship between centre, periphery and marginal regions. It evaluates the Core-Periphery model and examines its utility for arguments. This is followed by first approaches at marginality and possible definitions. The chapter seeks to put the term globalization and deregulation into the perspective of the issues of centrality and peripherality. Two fundamental questions can be asked in this context: What is marginality, how can people characterize marginal regions? and how can people differentiate between marginal regions and peripheries? Marginality and marginal regions are opposed to centrality and central regions. Reality, however, is not composed of extremes but of continua between extremes: a region is more or less marginal or central, depending on the point of reference from which people measure a specific quality. Definitions of marginality and marginal regions have usually been economically based. The chapter concludes with a presentation of ideas about the non-material background to marginality.
