The emergence of the modern semiperiphery, or new industrializing countries, involving the rapid industrialization of parts of the less developed world, has received much attention in the scholarly literature. However, this phenomenon has met with radically different interpretations. To some, this peripheral industrialization signals a new era in north-south relations and a break with the old international division of labor based on the exchange of primary and industrial goods. To others, this new development is interpreted in a more limited way. It is seen as limited in terms of the number of possible new entrants, the temporary nature of the projected “boom” period, and the nonautonomous nature of the peripheral growth process.