Neo-Gramscian

Perspective

Neo-Gramscian
perspective

Neo-gramscian perspective is based on

the work of the Italian Marxist Antonio
Gramsci (1891-1937).
Gramsci was one of the founding
members of the Italian Communist
Party. He was porisoned in 1926 for his
political activities and spent the rest of
his time in the prison and wrote Prison
Notebooks (1971)

Why there was no

communist revolution in
Western
Europe?
The key question Gramsci dealt with was

why it was so difficult to promote

revolution in Western Europe. Because,
Marx had predicted that revolution and
transition to socialism would occur first in
the advanced capitalist countries.
However, it was not Europe but
comparatively bacward Russia that
realized revolution.
What went wrong in Europe? Gramscis
answer to this question revolves around
his use of the concept of hegemony.

Concept of Hegemony

Hegemony is most frequently used

to describe the most powerful
state in the international system.
But, Gramscis use of hegemony is
related to his understanding of
power, which is broader and richer
than realists: a mixture of
coercion and consent.

Marxist Approach to
Hegemony

In understanding how the prevailing order

was maintained, Marxists concentrated
almost exclusively on the coercive
practices and capabilities of the state.
State was seen as a means of opressing
one class by another. Based on this
understanding, it was coercion that
prevented the exploited society from
rising up and changing the system
that makes them suffer.

Gramscis Reinterpreting
Hegemony

Gramsci recognized that while this was true in less

developed countries like Russia, it was not the case in
the Western Europe. Here the system was
maintained not merely by coercion, but also
through consent. Consent is created and recreated
by the hegemony of the ruling elite in society.

It is hegemony that makes the political, cultural,

and moral values of the dominant group to become
widely dispersed throughout society and to be
accepted by subordinate groups and classes as
their own.

For Gramsci, dominant ideologies are institutionalized in

society as they become the common sense.

Gramscis emphasis on
civil society

Civil society is the network of

institutions and practices in society
that enjoy some autonomy from the
state, and through which groups and
individuals organize, represent and
express themselves to each other and
to the state. These include media,
education system, churches,
voluntary organizations, etc.

Gramscis focus on the

Superstructure

Superstructure should be emphasized

because although the structure of
society may be a reflection of social
relations of production in the
economic base, superstructure
(political and cultural practices)
determines whether the society is
prone to change and transform itself.

Gramscis Historic Bloc

Historic bloc implies a relation between the

cultural and the political and the economic and
also requires an organic link between
people and intellectuals, governors and
governed, leaders and led.
Historic bloc reflects the way in which
leading social forces within a specific
national context establish a relationship
over contending social forces.
Historical bloc is defined as a situation in which
various classes and factions of them are
related and implicitly one mode of production
is dominant

Counter Hegemonic
Struggle

If the hegemony of the ruling class is a key

element in the perpetuation of its
dominance, then society can only be
transformed if that hegemonic position is
successfully challenged. This entails a
counter-hegemonic struggle in civil
society, in which the prevailing
hgegemony is undermined , allowing
an alternative historic bloc to be
constructed.

Robert Cox and the

Analysis of World Order

Robert Cox introduced Gramsci to the study of world

politics. He criticized prevailing theories of international
relations and International Political Economy and tried to
develop an alternative framework for the analysis of
world politics.

His article Social Forces, States, and World

Orders:Beyond International Relations Theory
(1981): If ideas and values are a reflection of a particular
set of social relations, and are transformed as those
relations themselves are transformed, then this suggests
that all knowledge must reflect a certain context, a
certain time and space. In other words, knowledge cannot
be objective and timeless as neo-realists argue. For Cox,
theory is always for someone and for some
purpose.

How to transform the

world order

Realists claim to describe the world as it is, and as

it always will be, but in fact they are reinforcing
the ruling hegemony in the current world order.
Cox attempts to develop an emnacipatory
theoretical understanding of world order that
emphasize both the sources of stability in a given
system and also the dynamics of processes of
transformation.
In this context, Cox benefits from Gramscis
concept of hegemony and transfers it to the
international realm, arguing that hegemony
is important for maintaining stability.

How to transform the

world order

Cox argues that sucessive dominant

powers in the international system
have shaped a world order that
suits their interests , and have
done so not only as a result of
their coercive capabilities, but
also because they managed to
generate broad consent for that
order even among the
disadvanted groups.

Hegemonic Idea:Free
Trade

The hegemons like the United Kingdom and the

United States used the hegemonic idea of free
trade. Their claim that this system benefits
everyone has been so widely accepted that it has
attained common sense status. However, free
trade benefits the hegemonic power as it is the most
efficient producer in the global economy, and it can
produce goods which are competitive in all markets. The
peripheral countries do not benefit from freee trade as
much as the hegemon does. As Marxists argue free
trade prevents the development of the periphery.

The power of the United States is based on the

hegemony of the neo-liberalism.

The hegemony of Neoliberalism

Neo-liberal policies are accepted as the norm

throughout the world. Set of policies most closely
associated with the neoliberal project is: privatization,
reduction of state spending, liberalization of trade and capital
these policies are also known as Washington Consensus

The adoption of neo-liberal policies by Third world countries:

spending on health and education decreased, they were forced
to rely more on the export of raw materials and import
manufactured goods of developed countries.

Moreover, as third world countries devalued their currency as

part of neo-liberal policies, the price of their exported raw
materials decrease. When third world countries privatize their
public enterprises, American or European companies buy them
at relatively cheap prices.

Why?

If neo-liberal policies have such negative

results, why Third world countries adopted it so
widely?
Coercion: debt crisis between the Third World
and the West in the 1970s and 1980s. This debt
crisis resulted from excessive and unwise
lending by Western Banks. Third World
countries are unable to pay the interests of
these debts and also the debt itself.They
applied to IMF for assistance. In order to
receive money from the IMF, they had to
implement neo-liberal policies.

Key points

Gramsci shifted the focus of Marxist analysis

towards superstructural phenomena.Gramsci
explored the processes by which consent for
a particular social and political system was
produced through the operation of
hegemony. Hegemony allows the ideas of the
ruling elite to become widespread.
Cox attempted to internationalize Gramscis
thought by transferring his concepts such as
hegemony to the global context.