Gramsci, Machiavelli and International Relations (original) (raw)
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In this article I provide an appraisal of the neo-Gramscian approach to the study of international relations by focusing on three of its major exponents: Robert Cox, Stephen Gill and Adam Morton. I argue that neo-Gramscians have yet to adequately address some important challenges and criticisms of their method around its overly " top-down " mode of analysis, its neglect of forms of resistance and its excessively global and cosmopolitan account of neoliberal hegemony and especially resistance. I maintain that a return to the letter of Gramsci's writings on hegemony and its national-popular and democratic character would not only allow neo-Gramscians to address more effectively these weaknesses, but also strengthen their approach and align it more effectively with trends in contemporary politics.
A BSTRACT It is possible to read Gramsci -and through him, the tradition of historical materialism -in such a way that we are enabled to realise a potentially transformative politics of solidarity in a world where capitalist relations are extending and deepening, but which is nonetheless plural. A Gramscian-inflected historical materialism enables an understanding of globalising capitalism, its relations of power and structures of governance, as the product of struggles -at once material and ideological -among concretely situated social agents. When viewed in terms of a dialectical reading of Gramsci, these struggles may be seen as reassertions of situated knowledges and process-based understandings of social reality, antithetical to the abstract individualism residing in capitalism's core, and embodying possibilities for critical engagement, dialogue, and transformative politics in an era of globalising capitalism.
A BSTRACT This essay explores the matter of hegemony in the global system from the standpoint of global capitalist theory, in contrast to extant approaches that analyse this phenomenon from the standpoint of the nation-state and the inter-state system. It advances a conception of global hegemony in transnational social terms, linking the process of globalisation to the construction of hegemonies and counter-hegemonies in the twenty-first century. An emergent global capitalist historical bloc, lead by a transnational capitalist class, rather than a particular nation-state, bloc of states, or region, is pursuing a hegemonic project. The US state is seen as the point of condensation for pressures from dominant groups to resolve problems of global capitalism. US-led militarisation is a contradictory political-military response to the crisis of global capitalism, characterised by economic stagnation, legitimacy problems and the rise of counter-hegemonic forces.
The Neo-Gramscian School to International Political Economy, Passive Revolution and Globalization
"Hegemonia, revolução passiva e globalização: o sistema G7/8", a book by Leonardo Ramos published in 2013 by Editora PUC Minas, outbreaks a central issue of the contemporary international system and, consequently, of International Relations as an independent field of study: the relationship between hierarchy, order and change. In fact, several traditions of the political and economic thought removed the inequality of power and conditions among social actors as well as external constraints from the analysis of the international scenario. For Ramos (2013), this was not different for the area of International Relations: neglecting the study of hierarquical relations is explained by the influence of the monumental work of Kenneth N. Waltz (2002)
Gramsci's concept of hegemony at the national and international level
The work of Antonio Gramsci has been very influential in the field of International Political Economy. Not only has the Italian revolutionary's body of thought been taken as a starting point for conceptualising hegemony at the international level -something this paper is mostly concerned with -it has also provided a source for a critical understanding of the International in general. Given my aim, the first part of the paper will look at how Gramsci's concept of hegemony has been understood by influential scholars in the field of IR such as Arrighi and Cox. Secondly, relying on more recent literature on Gramsci, engaging with the critical edition of the Quaderni and dwelling on some important tenets of his body of thought, I will outline another interpretation. Differently from the above scholars, hegemony will be understood as being economic, civic and political and defined as dialectical unity between leadership and domination, including both the moments of consensus and coercion. In due course I will look at how a 'fundamental class' can realise hegemony and identify structural, economic causes for why it can run into crisis. The third part of the paper then turns to the International and presents how Arrighi, Cox and the Amsterdam School have applied Gramsci's concept to this field. Relying again on the Quaderni, I will discuss a still relatively unexplored field in the literature: how Gramsci himself thought of international relations and hegemony within it. According to the reading proposed here, international relations in the 'modern' capitalist world are conceptualised dialectically and result as being characterised by rivalry amongst different states. Hegemony accrues to states (not classes). It is based on economic and military power of a given state relative to other states (likely to change over time) and describes a state's degree of autonomy -hence also its ability to influence other states' behaviour in different ways. Therefore, in my concluding remarks
Gramsci's Marxism and international relations
International Socialism, 2007
Antonio Gramsci's Prison Notebooks are not an obvious starting point for the study of international relations. However, in the past few decades a group of radical scholars has drawn on his work to challenge the dominant Realist perspective in this field. The Realist perspective is ...