This slide are about the international relations theory which is Marxism.

1. Baylis, Smith & Owens:
The Globalization of World Politics 5e
Chapter 8
Marxist theories
of international relations

2. Introduction
• Retains relevance despite collapse of
Communist rule in former Soviet Union
• Focuses on global capitalism
• Not an explicit theory of IR
• Varying interpretations of his writings
--> competing schools of Marxism

3. World system theory
• Antecedents:
– Lenin’s work on imperialism
– Latin American dependency school
• Contemporary mainstay: Immanuel
Wallerstein

4. Gramsci & ‘Italian school’
• Shifts focus towards superstructural
phenomena
• Explores processes by which
hegemony produces social-political
system
--> disperses ideas/ideologies of
ruling stratum
• Cox, etc. ‘internationalize’ Gramsci by
transferring key concepts to global
context

5. Critical theory
• Varying conceptions of emancipation
• First-generation Frankfurt School:
emancipation = reconciliation with
nature
• Habermas: emancipatory potential lies
in the realm of communication
– Radical democracy can unlock it
• Linklater: favours expansion of political
community’s moral boundaries (ex: EU)

6. New Marxism
• Characterized by direct (re)appropriation
Marx’s concepts/categories
• Warren: deploys Marx to criticize central
ideas of dependency & world-system
theory
• Rosenberg: uses Marx to criticize
globalization and realist theories of IR
• Seeks to develop an alternative approach:
historical change as reflection of
transformations in relations of production

7. Marxist theories of IR
• Sceptical of current emphasis on
globalization
• See globalization as another step in
development of capitalism
• Suspicious of globalization as
ideological tool to justify reductions in
workers’ rights and welfare provision

8. Case Study
The politics of neo-liberalism