Rethinking Hegemony

Hegemony has long been a key concept within the study of International Relations, as well as across the social sciences more generally, and a term used by analysts to make sense of contemporary events. Drawing on a rich historical framework, this book traces the different definitions and interpretations of hegemony in world politics and shows that the term continues to be a contested one. It examines and develops traditional ideas about hegemony – from the idea of the strong leading state to the dominance of particular ideologies – through a wide range of approaches including hegemonic stability theory and the work of Antonio Gramsci. Exploring issues such as the role of the state, the changing influence of regionalism and the emergence of counter-hegemonic movements, this book argues that a more nuanced understanding of hegemony is necessary in order to understand the construction of the contemporary world order. Considering a wide range of case studies throughout – from the reputation of the United States as an international leader, to the European Union's regional hegemony and the economic prowess of the so-called BRICS group – this text provides the ideal guide to a multi-faceted term and significant force of both history and the modern age.

In Rethinking Hegemony, edited by Thomas Clayton, a group of prominent educationists explore the complex and powerful process of hegemony, or ideological domination, as it operates in schools and other educational settings. In this collection of national and international empirical studies the authors grapple with the central process of hegemony – that of social maintenance or transformation by means of prominent social ideas which shape our understanding of what constitutes just, proper, and legitimate ways of thinking and acting. While the authors agree that these ideas are continually renewed, recreated and defended by dominant groups in society, they also consider the way other groups respond to this process in what often becomes a struggle for hegemony or ideological ascendancy. Chapters include Daniel Schugurensky’s analysis of the university restructuring in Latin America, Carmel Borg’s examination of the diffusion of Catholic values in Malta’s state schools, Joseph and Rea Zajda’s study of the rewriting of history textbooks in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union, Peter Mayo’s case study of a state-sponsored adult eduction program in the University of Malta and Richard Maclure’s examination of the role of international and African NGOs in serving the interests of African elites and transnational capital. Ethnographic studies by Barbara Burgess and Mark Ginsburg, and Peter Demerath examine the education of emotionally disturbed children in the USA, and the struggles of New Guinean youth to negotiate between the Western ideas of individualism and hierarchical power structures and the egalitarianism of their village origins. Ryohei Matsuda and Ahmed Mah’s chapters consider both the marginalisation and the attempts at recognition of indigenous agricultural knowledge in Agricultural Science faculties in Africa universities. Chapters by Victor Cordova and Mark Ginsburg, Pamela Young, Joseph Slowinski and Thomas Clayton consider campus struggles in a Mexican university, the role of Protestant missionaries in the 19th and 20th century Ottoman Empire, the influence of EU educational assistance in Eastern Europe, and the role of Vietnamese interventions in Cambodian education and culture.

David Chandler explores the concept of 'global ideology' and how it impacts on politics, economics, and development studies, explaining why 'the global' is such a damaging construction and exposing the political vacuum at the heart of common perceptions of global politics. He argues that the pre-eminence of the global, whether in terms of global governance, global security or global resistance, is predicated on a lack rather than a presence. It is the lack of clear sites and articulations of power, the lack of clear security threats and the lack of clear political programmes or movements of resistance that drives the concept of international relations in global terms. This wide-ranging analysis is a perfect antidote for students frustrated with the abundant, but vague literature on globalization.

This book reflects on 'the political' in queer theory and politics by revisiting two of its key categories: hegemony and heteronormativity. It explores the specific insights offered by these categories and the ways in which they augment the analysis of power and domination from a queer perspective, whilst also examining the possibilities for political analysis and strategy-building provided by theories of hegemony and heteronormativity. Moreover, in addressing these issues the book strives to rethink the understanding of the term "queer", so as to avoid narrowing queer politics to a critique of normative heterosexuality and the rigid gender binary. By looking at the interplay between hegemony and heteronormativity, this ground-breaking volume presents new possibilities of reconceptualizing 'the political' from a queer perspective. Investigating the effects of queer politics not only on subjectivities and intimate personal relations, but also on institutions, socio-cultural processes and global politics, this book will be of interest to those working in the fields of critical theory, gender and sexuality, queer theory, postcolonial studies, and feminist political theory.

In a subtle but powerful reading of the shifting relationships between development, hegemony, and social transformation in post-independence Latin America, Ronaldo Munck argues that Latin American subaltern knowledge makes a genuine contribution to the current search for a social order which is sustainable and equitable.

Hegemony and World Order explores a key question for our tumultuous times of multiple global crises. Does hegemony – that is, legitimated rule by dominant power – have a role in ordering world politics of the twenty-first century? If so, what form does that hegemony take: does it lie with a leading state or with some other force? How does contemporary world hegemony operate: what tools does it use and what outcomes does it bring? This volume addresses these questions by assembling perspectives from various regions across the world, including Canada, Central Asia, China, Europe, India, Russia and the USA. The contributions in this book span diverse theoretical perspectives from realism to postcolonialism, as well as multiple issue areas such as finance, the Internet, migration and warfare. By exploring the role of non-state actors, transnational networks, and norms, this collection covers various standpoints and moves beyond traditional concepts of state-based hierarches centred on material power. The result is a wealth of novel insights on today's changing dynamics of world politics. Hegemony and World Order is critical reading for policymakers and advanced students of International Relations, Global Governance, Development, and International Political Economy.

How can we understand power in a world of ever-growing complexity? This book proposes that we can do so by rethinking the theory and practice of political hegemony through the resources of complexity theory. Taking Gramsci’s understanding of hegemony as its starting point, the book argues that the intricacies of contemporary power can be mapped by applying concepts drawn from complexity theory, such as emergence, self-organisation, metastability, and generative entrenchment. It develops an original account of social complexity, drawing upon critical realist sociology, analytic philosophy of science, Marxist and continental philosophies, and neoliberal and anarchist thought. It then draws out the elements of Gramscian hegemony that already align with complexity concepts, such as the balance of forces, common sense, and the historic bloc. On this basis, the book sets out the different dimensions of complex hegemonic power before using this theory to interpret the nature of the power of neoliberalism since 2008.

A major re-thinking of the concept of hegemony in international relations. On the basis of historical examples, Ian Clark presents an innovative scheme for rethinking hegemony, and applies it to the US role in international organizations, in East Asia, and in the policy on climate change.