Gramsci Political Economy And International Relations Theory

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.

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)

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.

This book provides an outline and a critique of neo-Gramscian international relations theory, from a Marxist perspective. Focusing on the pioneering work of Robert Cox, but also drawing on the wider neo-Gramscian literature, this book presents a comprehensive account of neo-Gramscian international relations theory. It highlights the neo-Gramscian critique of mainstream Realist theory and the theoretical innovations that resulted from the mobilisation of Gramsci’s ideas and Cox’s emphasis on the social forces underpinning forms of state and world orders. The author explains how this is especially relevant in the current period of war and crisis, when the international dimensions of social existence continue to exercise a major influence over ‘domestic’ politics and economics, and when the interest in Marxism can be expected to grow. The book continues to provide a critique of the neo-Gramscians and of what the author argues is their one-sided reading of Gramsci. Placing coercion at the centre of a mode of production analysis of world order, the author elaborates a Marxist alternative to neo-Gramscianism that provides more robust explanations of world order dynamics and change. Using a combination of IR theory and historical explanation, including of contemporary world order dynamics and US power, this book will appeal to both students and scholars of International Relations, international studies, and international history.

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

Provides a critical engagement between contending historical materialist approaches that have played a crucial role in shaping post-positivist International Relations theory. It draws out the differences of how class struggle is understood as well as the common concern for understanding the historical specificity of capitalism and process of state formation, through a focus on the social relations of production and labour.

Critical Perspectives on International Political Economy considers and revises the progress of critical thinking within IPE and engages with issues such as finance, the practices of health and work, the relevance of new social movements and the political economy of the Internet. In so doing it provides a possible map for the next stage of critical development in the study of International Political Economy.