Gramsci Historical Materialism And International Relations

Relates the writings of Antonio Gramsci and others to the contemporary debates in international relations.

The essays collected here relate the writings of Antonio Gramsci and others to the contemporary reconstruction of historical materialist theories of international relations. The contributors analyze the contradiction between globalizing and territorially based social and political forces in the context of past, present, and future world orders, and view the emerging world order as undergoing a structural transformation, a "triple crisis" involving economic, political and "socio-cultural" change. The prevailing trend of the 1980s and early 1990s toward the marketization and commodification of social relations leads the contributors to argue that socialism needs to be redefined away from the totalizing visions associated with Marxism-Leninism, toward the idea of the self defense of society and social choice to counter the disintegrating and atomizing effects of globalizing and unplanned market forces.

This book seeks to provide the most comprehensive and sustained engagement and critique of neo-Gramscian analyses available in the literature. In examining neo-Gramscian analyses in IR/IPE, the book engages with two fundamental concerns in international relations: (i) The question of historicity and (ii) The analysis of radical transformation.

The aim of this book is to explain and assess the relevance of the ideas of Gramsci to a world fundamentally transformed from that in which his thought was developed. It takes some of Gramsci’s best-known concepts – hegemony, civil society, passive revolution, the national-popular, trasformismo, the integral state - and uses them creatively to analyse features of present-day politics, assessing to what extent his ideas can aid our understanding of the contemporary political world. The book contains essays focused on: aspects of global politics (the development of a global civil society, the validity of the knowledge claims of neo-Gramscian IR specialists and the politics of the WTO and the Alternative Globalisation Movement); contemporary feminism; the problem of adjusting Gramsci’s theory of political agency to modern conditions; Turkish and Israeli politics; and a series of essays on present-day British politics. The book concludes that while there remain considerable problems in applying Gramsci’s concepts to the contemporary world, his political thought still retains an attraction and validity that will continue to inspire political analysts well into the future. Bringing together a range of essays representing some of the latest research in the field, Gramsci and Global Politics: Hegemony and Resistance opens up new perspectives on Gramsci which will be of vital interest to students and scholars in International Relations and Political Science, Sociology and History.

A comprehensive reassessment of the relevance of Gramsci’s theory and practice at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Whilst commentaries on Antonio Gramsci and arguments surrounding his political and intellectual legacy have proliferated, little attention has been hitherto directed to linking the connections and contentions between Political Theory and International Political Economy. This volume brings together leading authorities engaged in common debates to produce, for the first time, a major collection that clarifies, addresses, and lays bare the manifest connections and contentions within political and international theory surrounding the legacy of Antonio Gramsci. In Part I, scholars examine various approaches to Gramsci’s thought, including his methodological principles, the specific conception of civil society he offers, his writings on war and cultural struggle, the spatial dimension of his thinking, and his philosophy of history. Part II focuses on very new developments in Gramsci scholarship concerning the questioning of contemporary world order. This includes reflections on his relevancy to issues of globalising capitalism, transformations in the state, revolutionary praxis, orientalism and empire, as well as European regionalism. This book was previously published as a special issue of the leading Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy. (CRISPP)

In Crises and Hegemonic Transitions Fusaro reconsiders the concept of hegemony at the international level by returning to the critical edition of Gramsci’s Quaderni thereby offering a novel way to interpret past and present developments within the world economy.

Revisiting Gramsci’s Notebooks offers a rich collection of studies addressing the thought of Antonio Gramsci, one of the most significant intellects of the twentieth century, from a global network of scholars confronting the actuality of our ‘great and terrible’ world.

Western critical theory, Marxism included, has largely been based on a view of historical materialism that Gramsci, among others, developed in his prison notebooks. For many, Gramsci’s philosophical reflections in prison offered a new foundation for the philosophy of the future. His reflections on the philosophy of praxis and absolute historicism find echoes in much of what today is considered to be a materialist philosophy. That form of materialism was unable to provide a sound foundation for a progressive social project, the possibility of a meaningful and creative ethical life, and the forms of activity or praxis that would be conducive to creating good society. In this book, Esteve Morera connects Marxist philosophy to the broader philosophical discussion of materialism in metaphysics, the philosophy science, philosophy of mind, and naturalised ethics. Each chapter deals with a particular aspect related to materialism and its consequences, the sorts of things that, if materialism is true, need to be confronted. Morera critiques, and rejects Gramsci’s conception of matter and materialism and concludes that that philosophical materialism is compatible with freedom, and as a consequence, offers a good foundation for ethical life. Gramsci, Materialism, and Philosophy is an original contribution to the philosophically vital debates around the meaning, limitations, implications, and possibilities of philosophical materialism as it is a contribution to the critical literature on Gramsci.