Thursday, January 18, 2018

Lecture #2 — Marxist theories of IR

Overview
- For Marx, a main unit of analysis is class and the relations between classes
- In short, a scholar (and critic) of capitalism
- Marx didn’t talk about IR directly in his work, in that the relationship between states was a major
theme
- Despite this, he was an early theorist of globalization
- Capitalism
- Two major components:
- Production for profit - goods/services for profit (not need) and the private accumulation of wealth
- Wage labour - people work for a wage, which is lower than the value of they provide to those paying
the wages. Result for profit, a wage surplus
- One class determines that to produce (for their profit) and hires another class to produce for them
- It crosses borders and is a global phenomenon, In fact, we could speak of global capitalism or a global
capitalistic system
- It is here that a Marxist view of IR proves useful
- Wars, international trade, the movement go workers, treaties, global organizations etc. all occur within
the structures of global capitalistic system (ex. a Marxist would could focus on oil prices)
- These global structures or relations (wars, trade, migration etc.), according to Marxist theory, reflect
the economic power and control of the capitalists on those in power
- As a theory, Marxism suggests that the powerful profit at the expense of the weak
- An understanding (and critique) of capitalism can’t be limited by national borders
- Video: Steve Smith - Marxism video (on bringing IR theory to life)
Global Capitalism
- One of the capitalism transnational characteristics is imperialism (states that are a hegemonic power
have the greatest concentration of wealth)
- Lenin (Marxist IR theorist) referred to imperialism as ‘the highest stage of capitalism’ - Considerable
growth of capitalism in the late 1800s, early 1990s required new analysis

Lenin - Imperialism
- Monopoly capitalism - Capitalism on a global scale
- Two types of countries - those in the developed core and those under developed countries in the
periphery
- In the same way that capitalisms production for profit and system of wage layout in which one class
exploited another (on the national level), Lenin expanded this to examine exploitation of the periphery
on a global level

Imperialism
- The periphery countries were dependent upon the exportation of raw materials, as opposed to finished
goods
- The price of these finished goods rises quicker than the price of raw goods, which workers in the
periphery become reliant on
- As times foes on, the workers in the periphery become poorer
Dependency Theory
- Development of less industrialized countries dependent upon development of more advanced core
countries

Imperialism
- Not just the exploitation of one class by another (ie. capitalism) but a step further
- It is capitalism and exploitation on a global scale
 Thursday, January 18, 2018

- Whereas traditional IR scholars may view simply as international trade and bi-later relations, Marxist
scholars analyses this international order as a product of capitalist development (capitalist imperialism)

World Systems
- Immanuel Wallerstein - systems has a beginning, middle, and end (which hasn’t occurred) Suggests a
post-capitalistic work order
- Geographic analysis - more than just the core-periphery discussed by Lenin. Wallerstein adds ‘semi-
periphery’
- A source of cheap labour that outs downward pressure on the core
Robert Cox - The World Order
- Cox - important Canadian neo-Marxist scholar
- Knowledge, he argues, is not objective or value free, It is value laden
- Whose values, analysis? What purpose does it serve
- For Cox: The ruling-class, or the prevailing social order
- Through both consent and coercion, this approach argues that dominant global powers (ex. the IMF, the
WTO, etc.) shape a world order that promotes and benefits their specific class interest
- It will not always be this way
Whats next? Beyond Global Capitalism
- Marxist inspired IR doesn’t simply critique, it also presents a solution
- It should remind us that globalization isn’t natural, but rather, a deliberate political project with specific
goals
- Video: British geographer David Harvey, on what could be next? - RSA Animate Crises of Capitalism