grammar - The meaning of and difference between ～を中心に and ～をめぐ って

What is the meaning of and difference between ～を中心に and ～をめぐって?

Space ALC defines ～を中心に as "with a focus on" and ～をめぐって as "centering on", but I'm having trouble figuring out the meaning and difference in usage of the two.

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I saw the following example sentence for ～を中心に in the (old) JLPT2 完全マスター, which JGram interpreted slightly differently to me:

駅を中心に沢山の商店が集まっている。

• My first interpretation: "In the station there are lots of stores grouped together."
  



• JGram's interpretation (which I now think is more accurate): "Centered around the station there are many stores."

The way I now understand it is that ～を中心に means more "([focused/centered/revolving]) around" rather than "in the center of something". Would this explanation be accurate?

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I've also encountered ～をめぐって a couple of times. The following example I read today in the April 2012 edition of 中央公論:

政党というものは、単に選挙をめぐって候補者をリクルートし、有権者へ働きかけて動員するための組織ではない。
My attempted translation: "A political party isn't an organization which is simply about recruiting candidates focusing on elections and encouraging mobilization of voters."

If I switched をめぐって with を中心に, would it have the same or similar meaning? What would the differences in nuance be between the two?

Answer

They have pretty much different meanings. 中心に adds blur. It means centered around. めぐって means 'regarding', and implies some kind of a debate. They are in general not interchangable.

駅を中心に沢山の商店が集まっている
'many stores are gathered around the the station'
More literally: 'many stores are gathered with its center being the station'

駅をめぐって沢山の商店が集まっている
'many store (owner)s are gathered {regarding, to talk about} the station'

選挙(の時期)を中心に候補者をリクルートする

'hire candidates mostly at around the time of an election'
More literally: 'hire candidates with its center being the time of an election'

選挙をめぐって候補者をリクルートする
'hire candidates {regarding, for} an election'