How useful are Marxist theories of Capitalist world hegemony?

Résumé du document

Even if the word "hegemony? linguistically comes from the Greek "egemon? meaning leader or ruler, one can find the roots of this word in Marxist thought as it was first used by Russian Social-Democrats from the late 1890's through the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Nevertheless, since the concept has interested many sociologists, politicians, economists, there is not a clear definition of this word as it means different things to different speakers. There are at least four interwoven conceptions in the literature on the international order and the world capitalist system: hegemony as international domination; hegemony as state hegemony; hegemony as consensual domination or ideological hegemony; and hegemony as the exercise of leadership within historical blocs within a particular world order .

Extraits

[...] Taylor, The Way the Modern World Work ‘World hegemony to World Impasse', Wiley Immanuel Wallerstein, Three Instances of Hegemony in the History of the Capitalist World-Economy' (1984). Gramsci and Globalisation: From Nation-State to Transnational Hegemony, William I. Robinson, Department of Sociology, University of California Santa Barbara, CA, USA Douglas, Mary Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. (1966) Immanuel Wallerstein, Three Instances of Hegemony in the History of the Capitalist World-Economy' (1984) Antonio Gramsci, Selection from the Prison Notebook London, Q. Hoare, G. Nowell Smith. [...]

[...] Bibliography G. Arrighi, The Long Twentieth Century, London, Verso G. Arrighi, Hegemony unravelling II, New Left Review March/April 2005). Robert Bocock, Hegemony Elis Horwood Limited. Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. (1966) Antonio Gramsci, Selection from the Prison Notebook London, Q. Hoare, G. Nowell Smith. [...]

[...] Indeed, we can first focus on Realism and see the similarities between Marxian theories and Realists. As R. Keohane says, “Many Marxian interpretations of hegemony turn out to bear an uncanny resemblance to Realist ideas, using different language to make similar points”. Indeed, Realists' conception of hegemony as dominance is also reflected in the old debate between Lenin and Kautsky about “ultra- imperialism”. Moreover, today's idea of ultra-hegemony has been borrowed directly from another debate about the end of capitalism. [...]

[...] How useful are Marxist theories of Capitalist world hegemony? Even if the word “hegemony” linguistically comes from the Greek meaning leader or ruler, one can find the roots of this word in Marxist thought as it was first used by Russian Social-Democrats from the late 1890's through the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Nevertheless, since the concept has interested many sociologists, politicians, economists, there is not a clear definition of this word as it means different things to different speakers. There are at least four interwoven conceptions in the literature on the international order and the world capitalist system: hegemony as international domination; hegemony as state hegemony; hegemony as consensual domination or ideological hegemony; and hegemony as the exercise of leadership within historical blocs within a particular world order[1]. [...]

[...] In conclusion, one may say that Marxist theories of world capitalist hegemony are useful in many ways as they help enrich the general development of thought on the concept of hegemony through their diverse approaches and the possible perfectibility of their theories. Also, they are useful as they help us understand contemporary trends in International relations. Indeed, however incorrect these Marxist theories might be for some thinkers, no one can neglect the fact that they are useful and absolutely necessary not only for analysing the concept of hegemony, but more generally, for every movement of thought in endless fields such as economics, politics, philosophy, sociology, social science, international relations, and International Political Economy. [...]