NEO-GRAMSCIANISM

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Neo-Gramscianism is a relatively new approach to the study of International Relations (IR) and the Global Political Economy (GPE) that explores the interface of ideas, institution and material capabilities as they shape the specific contours of the state formation. Using the same approach, neo-gramscianism analyzes the particular constellation of social forces, the state and the dominant ideational configuration to define and sustain world orders. In this sense, the neo-gramscian approach breaks the decades-old stalemate between the so-called realist schools of thought, and the liberal theories by historicizing the very theoretical foundations of the two streams as part of a particular world order, and finding the interlocking relationship between agency and structure. The theory is heavily influenced by the writings ofAntonio Gramsci. Other sources are Karl Polanyi, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Niccolò Machiavelli, Max Horkheimer, Adorno, Foucault and Derrida are cited as major sources within the Critical Theory of International Relations.

Origins of the neo-gramscian perspective

The beginning of the neo-gramscian perspective can be traced to York University professor emeritus, Robert W. Cox's article "Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory", in Millennium 10 (1981) 2, and "Gramsci, Hegemony and International Relations: An Essay in Method", published in Millennium 12 (1983) 2. In his 1981 article, Cox demands a critical study of IR, as opposed to the usual "problem-solving" theories, which do not interrogate the origin, nature and development of historical structures, but accept for example that states and the (supposedly) "anarchic" relationships between them as Kantian Dinge an sich.

However Cox disavows the label Neo-Gramscian despite the fact that in a follow-up article, he showed how Gramsci's thought can be used to analyze power structures within the GPE. Particularly Gramsci's concept of hegemony, vastly different from the realists' conception of hegemony, appears fruitful. Gramsci's state theory, his conception of "Historic Blocks" -- dominant configurations of (structural) abilities, ideologies and institutions as determining frames for individual and collective action -- and of élites acting as "organic intellectuals" forging Historic Blocks, is also deemed useful.

The Neo-Gramscian approach has also been developed along somewhat different lines by Cox's colleague, Stephen Gill, distinguished research professor of political science at York University in Toronto. Gill contributed to showing how the elite Trilateral Commission acted as an "organic intellectual", forging the (currently hegemonic) ideology of neoliberalism and the so-called "Washington Consensus" and later in relation to the globalization of power and resistance in his book "Power and Resistance in the New World Order" (Palgrave 2003). Outside of North America, the so-called "Amsterdam School" around Kees van der Pijl and Henk Overbeek (at Free University of Amsterdam) and individual researchers in Germany, notably in Düsseldorf, Kassel and Marburg as well as at the University of Sussex in the UK, and other parts of the world, have adopted the neo-Gramscian critical method.

Basics of the neo-Gramscian perspective

Hegemony

The neo-Gramscian view of hegemony is distinct from the realist view of hegemony. Realists view hegemony as a the "predominant power of a state (or a group of states)."(Cohen text 130-131) Gramscians look at hegemony in terms of class relations. A class is considered hegemonic if it has legitimized its dominance through institutions and concessions.(cohen 131) When a class has established dominance in this way, as well as in the formal political structural of a state, then it constitues a historic bloc. Neo-Gramscians argue that, because of globalisation, a neoliberal transnational historic bloc exists or is coming into existance.

Counterhegemony

A counterhegemony refers to an alternate normative interpretation of the functioning of social, economic, and political institutions. If a counterhegemony grows large enough it is able to subsume and replace the historic bloc it was born in. Neo-Gramscians use the Machiavellian terms war of position and war of movement to explain how this is possible. In a war of position a counterhegemonic movement attempts to, through persuasion or propaganda, to increase the amount of people who share it's view on the hegemonic order; in a war of movement the counterhegemonic tendencies which have grown large enough overthrows, violently or democratically, the current hegemony and establishs itself as a new historic bloc.

Criticisms

Neo-Gramscian analysis has been criticized on a number of grounds. Some argue that neo-Gramscians, like other Marxists, put so much emphasis on the failings of capitalism (being the current hegemonic order) that they fail to see the problems with the alternative systems they propose (such as socialism).(cohen 132)

External links

• Andreas Bieler, Adam David Morton:
  • Theoretical and Methodological Challenges of neo-Gramscian Perspectives in International Political Economy [1]
  • Teaching Neo-Gramscian Perspectives [2]
• Kees van der Pijl, The Making of an Atlantic Ruling Class, London Verso, 1984. Published online 2004 [3]