How relevant is Marx to International Relations?

Short summary Concerns class struggle, dialectics, historical materialism, modes of production, relations of production, alienation, base & superstructure, surplus value, and so on. Critics - Many traditional critics pointed to failings of Marxism as a materialistic interpretation of history e.g. neorealist critique Kenneth Waltz claims Marxism had utopian aspirations, which were bound to be dashed by the struggle for power and insecurity inherent in international anarchy. - English school thinks such as Martin Wight maintained Lenins imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism, was too preoccupied with economic aspects of human affairs to be regarded as a serious contribution. - For many, the collapse of the Soviet Union and triumph of capitalism marked the death of Marxism as a political theory. However Marxist international relations has experienced a resurgence after the end of the unchallenged US hegemony post 1980s 1

The oxford handbook of International Relations, page 163

Relevance as a general theory to IR

Helps challenge political assumptions: Walt stated that Competition between theories help reveal their strengths and weaknesses and spurs subsequent refinements, whilst revealing flaws in conventional wisdom2 Provides alternative world vision: Wallensteins emphasizes that socialism requires the form of a new kind of world system3 and in particular, is critical of capitalism.

Focusing on Marxs relevance Analysis of capitalism: - Marx was concerned with the exploitation practiced by the few over the many i.e. the patterns and mechanisms of exploitation in different modes of economic production4. - Argued that men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly found, given, and transmitted from the past, thus seeing the capitalist state as the executive committee of the bourgeoisie.

Walt, 1998, page 1 The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist System: Concepts for Comparative Analysis, Wallerstein,, page 408
2 3

Viotti and Kauppi, P 195, International Relations Theory, 5th edition : Pearson Education inc
4

- Consequently, Marx focused on the interplay and construction of agencies and structures. - Marxs influence on contemporary economic structuralist scholars thus, emphasized his writings and critical analysis of dominance- led exploitation and by the patterns of capitalist development and expansion. Challenge of other theories such as Liberalism - Whilst focuses on capitalism as a mode of production, rejects liberal accounts of capitalism suggesting that free markets will move towards equilibrium as proven incorrect by 1987 stock crash, 2008 financial crisis etc for Marx, such consequences are an inherent of the system we live in.

Marxism sees acquisition of knowledge as an essentially subjective process: - Claims that Positivism has different implications in natural science than to other applications of social science, making the point that it is easier to test claims made in natural sciences than social sciences. - E.g. Marx did not criticize Darwins theoretical work, and to the contrary believed that it serves [me] as a basis in natural science for the class struggle in history - Thus makes point that whilst scientific methods may be best to analyze events in natural science, may not be so in social sciences as many approaches are interpretive- thus the job of

philosophers and theorists to go beyond ambiguous areas of analysis. New Marxism characterized by reappropriation of concepts developed by Marx Starting from Marxs observation that it is always the direct relationship of the owners of the conditions of production to the direct productswhich reveal the corresponding form of the state i.e. stating the character of the relations of production permeates all of society: - i.e. Justin Rosenberg critiques realist international relations theory suggesting it provides an ahistorical, timeless account IR - Argues that realists attempt to portray international systems as autonomous, entirely political realms. - However, Marxism and critical theory are concerned with historical phases, processes and study of International Relations. - Gramscis theory represents the most influential Marxist theory in the contemporary International relations discourse, with central point on hegemony- for gramscists, hegemony is not about concentration of material power (a realist point of view) but about universalization of particular society complexes, maintained through consensus formation. Influence of World systems theory - Idea that world is divided into core countries and periphery countries and semi-periphery countries (core being responsible for higher skill work and production

of most capital, whilst periphery and semi periphery countries are poor areas of world providing manual labor and raw resources5 - But: - Various writers have built on or amended framework established by Wallersteins theory e.g. Christopher ChaseDunn laid more emphasis on role of inter-state system, and argued that the capitalist mode of production had a single logic, where both politico-military and exploitative economic relations play key roles. Feminist Marxists also played role in theorizing development of internationalist capitalist system e.g. feminist Marxists critique Engels work the origin of the family, private property and the state, instead suggesting women play a central role in the maintenance of capitalist relations.

Conclusion Ultimately, relating back to its relevance to IR, we learn from Marx that the world is dominated by the capitalist class who control not only the means of production but the instruments of governance in their respective societiessuch instruments include the state and all its agencies (e.g. military, police, courts etc.) as well as the media, educational institutions etc. To understand what happens in
5

http://internationalrelationsonline.com/international-relations-marxism/

Julius Dein

IR, we must understand the expression of interests and power of the dominant classes- thus in Marxs view, there is no such thing as national view, only class view.