Rait, Erwin John M.

PS 130 (Introduction to International

Relations)
AB Political Science POL3A Mr. John Aquilino Edmund G. De
Lima

Gramsci, Hegemony and International Relations:

An Essay in Method by Robert Cox

This reading article from Cox is a historical analysis of the philosophy and the
concepts that Antonio Gramsci, an Italian political philosopher and a Marxist,
created and conceptualized to help the contemporaries understand the complexities
and difficulties of another theory in the realm of international relations: the radical
or Marxist approach. This third theory in the analysis of international political arena
had been raised into the context wherein it based on the political ideas of Karl Marx,
a sociologist and political philosopher that conceptualized the terms socialism and
communism, a political ideology which is based on the notion that capitalism was
despised for its oppression, and it should be abandoned for a more equitable
system through the workers revolution. Antonio Gramsci, as a Marxist philosopher
conceptualized the term and discussions regarding Hegemony. According to Cox
(1983) Gramsci geared his thought consistently to the practical purpose of political
action. In his prison writings, he always referred to Marxism as 'the philosophy of
praxis'. In the discussion proper, Cox discussed the historical underpinnings of
hegemony were, the first, ran from the debates within the Third International
concerning the strategy of the Bolshevik Revolution and the creation of socialist
Soviet state, and second, from the writings of Niccolo Machiavelli, particularly the
Prince. Hegemony, according to Gramsci, is a process that Great powers have
relative freedom to determine their foreign policies in response to domestic
interests, whereas, Economic life of subordinate nations is penetrated by and
intertwined with that of powerful nations (Cox 1983, p. 59). This hegemony in
international relations had been manifested through the instrumentality of
international organizations. According to Cox, there are five characteristics of
international organizations as the tools of the hegemonic state in dominating the
international system. First, the international organisation embody the rules which
facilitate the expansion of hegemonic world order. Second, the organisation itself is
a product of the hegemonic world order. Third, the organisation ideologically
legitimate the norms of the world order. Fourth, the organisation co-opt the elites
from peripheral countries. And lastly, the organisation absorb counter-hegemonic
ideas. Because of the fact that hegemony is bad in nature, Gramsci argues that the
solution or the counter hegemonic paradigm is for the states to back in their
national focus.
But on the other hand, Cox forgot some concepts about international relations. First,
the states right now in the international system had been equalized by the balance
of power, which is a neorealist theory in perspective Second, international
organizations played a vital role in shaping development among weak states, such
as UN helping other states for political and economical issues. Overall, the reading
was an open minder on how Marxist theorist qualify themselves to be part of the
analysis of international relations because of the fact that states, especially those
powerful states are engaging in relations with weak states for the purpose of
economic interests.

References:

Baradat, L. Political Ideologies: Their Origins and Impact. Fifth Edition.

Prentice Hall Inc.
Cox, Robert. Gramsci, Hegemony and International Relations: An Essay in
Method. Millennium 12, no. 2 (1983): 162-175.