Marxism Week 8- International Relations Dr. Esengül AYAZ AVAN

Marxism the founding father of communism Das Capital a productive writer His legacy has been open to many contradictory interpretations =>>  claim Marx as a direct inspiration  are linked Marx’s legacy Karl Marx

Strands of Marxism Four strands of contemporary Marxist thought: 1) World-system theory 2) Gramscianism 3) Critical theory 4) New Marxism

Key Elements of Marxism 1- the social world should be analysed as a totality 2- the materialist conception of history  processes of historical change are a reflection of the economic development of society  tension between the "means of production" and the "relations of production"  the relation between these two factors determines the type of the existing society

Key Elements of Marxism The “means of production” => the type of productive technology the society has The “relations of production” => the social organisation of production. the means of production develop => previous relations of production become outdated => a process of social change

The base and the superstructure The base (economy) The superstructure (culture, the state, education, legal system)

Class in Marxist thought Class;  plays an important role in Marxism  What determines people’s class? => Their relation to the means of production.  the owners of the means of production vs. those who own only their labour  the main blocs of conflict: the bourgeoisie (the capitalist) and proletariat (the workers)

Class in Marxist thought the main concern of Marx: inequality in wealth and power between classes the final goal of Marxism is a classless society an important difference between big business and small business

Class in Marxist thought the goal should be to change the world. Marx was committed to the cause of emancipation Marx=> to overthrow the existing order and replace it with a communist society. no wage labour and private property

From imperialism to world-systems theory the implications of capitalism’s trans-border characteristics Trotsky=> combined and unequal development  Development would be combined =>> any state’s development level would be affected by its relations with others  Development would be unequal =>> states develop at different levels

From imperialism to world-systems theory Luxemburg=> the relations between more or less advanced capitalist states capitalism as a mode of production in Western Europe had emerged within and alongside pre-capitalist sets of relations markets for goods for developed capitalist states and cheap labour.

From imperialism to world-systems theory Lenin accepted Marx’s basic thesis but the character of capitalism had changed => the development of monopoly capitalism a two level structure had developed : a dominant core exploiting a less-developed periphery no longer an automatic harmony of interests between all workers Lenin’s ideas => developed by the Latin America Dependency School. Raul Prebisch: countries in the periphery were suffering because of the ‘declining terms of trade’.

World-systems Theory Contemporary world-systems theory => Immanuel Wallerstein  global history has been shaped by the rise and failure of a series of world systems  The modern world system had a beginning, has a middle and will have an end Wallerstein added an intermediate semi-periphery to his core- periphery distinction  shows characteristic of the core and the periphery.  the semi-periphery play important economic and political roles within the modern world system => a source of labour and a home for the industries that cannot function profitably in the core  3 zones of the world economy are in an unequal relationship

World-systems Theory Wallerstein’s analysis covers the description of how world systems have a beginning, a middle and an end  the end of the Cold War; not a victory but the beginning of capitalism’s ‘end’ phase  this end phase as a period of crisis=> should be seen as a time of opportunity  chance to determine the character of the replacement structure

Critics of Wallerstein and his theory Andre Gunder Frank:  the world system is much older  the world system is a consequence of a system that originated in Asia Janet Abu-Lughod:  the modern world system did not emerge in the 16 th century  during the medieval era, the world economy centred on the Middle East.

Women and Capitalism Feminist writers have given importance to the role of women:  in the workplace  as the providers of domestic labour Mies argued that there is a sexual division of labour:  In the developed world as housewives.  In the developing world as a source of cheap labour.

Gramscianism Antonio Gramsci: the most creative Marxist thinker of the 20 th century why had it proven to be so difficult to promote revolution in Western Europe? => the concept of hegemony Power is a mixture of coercion and consent Marxist had focused on the coercive practices and capabilities of the state but not the case in the Western developed countries

Gramscianism consent is created by the hegemony of the ruling class in society the spread of the moral, political and cultural values of the dominant class throughout society=> through the institutions of civil society groups and individuals organize, represent and express themselves. Historic bloc: the relations between the socio- economic relations and political and cultural practices=> base and superstructure

The analysis of ‘world order’ Robert Cox has developed a Gramscian approach => a critique of existing theories of IR and IPE and the development of an alternative framework for the analysis of world politics. ‘Theory is always for some one, and for some purpose.’ =>> If ideas and values are a reflection of a set of social relations and if they are transformed as those relations, this shows that all knowledge must reflect a certain context, a certain time and space.

The analysis of ‘world order’ no simple separation between facts and values Cox brings the notion of hegemony to the international area. Hegemony in the international area => important as at the domestic level dominant powers have shaped a world order that serves their interests=> not through coercion but through consent Ex: the UK and the USA => the dominant idea for them has been free trade Cox: Despite the dominance of the existing world order, it is challengable

Critical Theory There are common points of critical theory and Gramscian approaches=> have their roots in Western Europe of the 1920s and 30s. There are also differences between them  use the ideas of different thinkers.  their focuses are different from each other The key features of critical theory; 1)their intellectual concerns (superstructure) are different from the concerns (economic base) of most of the Marxists

Critical Theory 2) uncertain about whether the proletariat in contemporary society has the potential for emancipatory transformation 3)critical theorists have made an important contribution by exploring the meaning of emancipation.  Emancipation => gaining greater mastery over nature vs. settlement with nature  Jürgen Habermas => is more concerned with communication rather than our relation with the natural world.  the route to emancipation lies through radical democracy.  Andrew Linklater => emancipation is a process in which the borders of the sovereign states lose their ethical and moral importance

Critical Security Studies a trend in the study of security studies combines influences from Gramscianism and critical theory refuses to perceive the state as the natural object of analysis individual human beings should be at the centre of their security analysis

New Marxism base on Marx’ own writings= > returned to the main principles of Marxist thought criticized other developments within Marxism and made their own theoretical contributions. 1.Justin Rosenberg: focuses on the character of the international system and its relationship to the changing character of social relations challenges realism’s claim to provide ahistorical and timesless account of international relations.

New Marxism Rosenberg:  argues for the development of a theory of IR which is sensitive to the character of world politics.  The form of the state will be different under different modes of production  In order to understand the way that IR operates in any specific period, we should first examine the mode of production and the relations of production.

New Marxism Benno Teschke: social relation provide the crucial starting point for an analysis of IR A social property approach examines how class relations, forms of exploitation and control of the means production have changed in different periods. there have been 2 important transformations between feudal and modern international systems rather than one: between feudal and early modern (dominated by absolutist monarchies) and between early modern and modern (capitalist states).

New Marxism The practice of IR was different during each of these three periods => reflect the character of social property relations dominant in each period. the importance of the Treaties of Westphalia has been exaggerated. The modern international system began to emerge with the appearance of the first capitalist state which is Britain. This capitalist state form reflected the development of capitalist property relations.

Marxism and Globalization Globalization => Marxists do not reject but also do not accept it is original or new. According to Marxist theories, the world has been dominated by a global capitalist system=> all elements are closely interrelated and interdependent. The emergence of multinational corporations=> not an important change in the structure of the modern capitalist system.

Marxism and Globalization Rather, they form part of a long term trend towards the further integration of the global economy. This increasing intensity of cross-border flows does not mean that there is an important change in world politics According to Marxists, nothing is natural or inevitable about a world order based on a global market => the basis for a new way of organizing society should be established

Question According to you, which elements of Marxist thought are most applicable or important and which of them should be considered as outdated?