International Politics

POL10002
WEEK 6:
MARXISM & WORLD-SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
Chris Agius
2017
Lecture outline
Marxism

Wallerstein and World-Systems Analysis

How do Marxist and WSA approaches differ from realism and

liberalism?

Problems and prospects

Karl Marx (1818-1883)
German-born philosopher, journalist, social scientist.

Developed a materialist conception of history based on the idea that: the nature of individuals depends on
the material conditions determining their production." (The German Ideology, Marx & Engels, 1845/6).

1840s time of revolution mass unemployment, poverty, revolt against monarchies, widespread repression
and industrial revolution.

Marx: capitalism is productive yet exploitative and undemocratic.

Capitalism orders human relations
Mode of production and exchange of goods and services is the basis of all social processes and institutions.

Holistic analysis, structural

Class relationship
Class differences reveal a relationship of exploitation
Bourgeoisie (middle class): own the means of production
The bourgeoisie purchase the labour power of the proletariat, who
are given a wage. The cost of labour is less than the value of the
product.
Labour theory of value
Alienating condition of the human race - both bourgeoisie and
proletariat were caught up in the structures and forces they had
created.
The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class
struggles. (Communist Manifesto, 1848)
Capitalism as a system
Capitalism is the system that orders life: family, structure of society,
relations within society, culture, politics, economics
In Marxs critique of political economy, his key point is that we must
understand how economic relations structure societal and political
relations
Therefore, in order to understand politics, we need to understand the
economic base

BASE: forces and relations of production

SUPERSTRUCTURE: culture, institutions, state, political structure
The base supports the superstructure - other political and social
institutions (state, law, church, family, education, media)
 Historical materialism
Marxs theory of history - forms of society rise and fall as they help and then impede the development of human
productive power.

The historical process goes through a series of necessary modes of production, characterised by class struggle,
ending in communism.

Stages of history: Primitive communism (subsistence, chiefdom); slave societies; feudalism; capitalism;
international socialism; Communism.
Image source: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uhBt92tC0O0/maxresdefault.jpg
Dialectical materialism: Marx & Engels on the possibility of
change
Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they
do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under
circumstances directly encountered, given, and transmitted from the past.
(Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, 1852)

Dialectical materialism the material world is independent of mind and spirit.

Material world has objective reality. Ideas come from material sources or reflect
material conditions.

Inspired by Hegel: concerned with how things change all things are
contradictory, conflict drives change.

Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point
is to change it. (Theses On Feuerbach, 1845)
Marx and the state
Human freedom could only be achieved through universal solidarity and
cooperation: workers of the world unite

To talk of the state is to talk of the interests of those who own the means of
production.

Geographical boundaries simply create the illusion of separate societies all

societies shared the class struggle.

Nationalism as an artificial construct.

Class - not the state - that are the most important actors.
 Marxism and the international system: capitalist expansion

The need of a constantly expanding market for its

products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface
of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle
everywhere, establish connections everywhere.
The Communist Manifesto

Examples: globalisation
 Lenin: Imperialism

Marx capitalism would eventually collapse (workers would become poorer,

new markets would be exhausted)
Lenin Marx underestimated ability of capitalism to survive crises. Capitalism
would expand and adapt to find new markets
For Lenin, imperialism was essentially economic, the desire of domestic
capitalisms goal to maintain profit levels by exporting surplus capital
This would bring major capitalist powers into conflict with each other, resulting
in war
The First World War was seen in this sense to be an imperialist war (struggle
over colonies in Africa, Asia and other parts of the world)
Proletariat could not overthrow capitalism but can unionise to provide
revolution
The new political climate and culture
Decline of the working class
Shift to post-industrial society
Rise of the political right
Leads to a questioning of the main assumptions of Marxism
(e.g.. Belief that the development of the forces of production
will result in material and social reconditions for socialism)
The Third World arena for conflict and competition
Dependency theory: background
Since 1945, traditional imperialism has turned into neo-colonialism.

Concern over international economics and politics time of instability and

uncertainty (1970s oil shocks, monetary system, collapse of world economy,
recession) .

NIEO: New International Economic Order redressing the north-south divide

Dependency school, or dependencia 1960s & 1970s Latin America. Critique

of liberal modernisation ideas of Rostow (traditional societies should replicate
the developed nations).
Key figures: Henrique Fernando Cardoso, Andre Gunder Frank.
World-Systems approaches
Immanuel Wallerstein: unit of analysis is the world system.
Rejected the idea of a Third World.

Global economy is best understood as an interlocking capitalist

system that mirrors, at the international level, many of the features
seen in national capitalism (being, structural inequalities based on
exploitation, the tendency towards instability and crisis)

World system refers to a geographical area governed by the logic of

single system this stretches across the globe (e.g., the Roman
Empire can be seen as a world system even though its
boundaries did not reach globally)
World-systems
Historically, there have been 2 types of world systems: world empires
and world economies.

World empire: centralised political system uses its power to

redistribute resources from peripheral to core areas.
World economy: no single centre of political authority, but rather
many competing centres of power. Resources distributed through the
market.

Interlinked, holistic
Internal dynamics the focus
Core, periphery, semi-periphery
Baylis et al 7th ed

Core: such as the developed North.

Concentration of capital, high wages, and
high-skilled manufacturing production.
Benefit from technological innovation, and
high levels of investment.

Periphery: includes the less-developed South.

The South is exploited by the Core through
their reliance (dependency) on the export of
raw materials, subsistence wages, weak state
protection.

Semi-periphery: Act as a buffer between

Core and Periphery - middle role in the
world system has some features of the core
and some of the periphery (a hybrid).
Relationship of exploitation
For Wallerstein, the key structure of the current world system is
the hierarchy between the core and the periphery
All three zones are linked in an exploitative relationship a
relationship of unequal exchange where there is a systematic
transfer of surplus to the core, allowing the core to accumulate
capital
The periphery has to sell its products at low prices but must
buy products from the core at high prices
Positions become entrenched
Fundamental contradictions will result in its demise
 Where do the theories differ?
Liberalism Realism Marxism

Key actors Individuals, States Social classes

regimes

Human Positive Negative Not fixed - some scope for

nature humans to shape their nature

Structure Anarchic - but Anarchic Capitalism structures social

can be improved relations
via cooperation

Outcome Cooperation Conflict Class struggle

 Contributions of Marxism and world systems analysis
Class and economic status structures global politics
But we should not equate Marxism with Soviet communism
(imposed revolutions from top down): De Omnibus Dubitandum
(question everything)
Dependency school and world systems analysis highlight political,
economic and social inequalities in the international system and how
they are ongoing (Piketty; results of imperialism)
Relevant now in an era of economic crisis and growing inequality -
are the 99% the new working class/proletariat? Greater inequality
since the global financial crisis.
UN report on the world social situation 2013 Inequality Matters:
inequality has increased mainly because the wealthiest individuals
have become wealthier, both in developed and developing
countries.
Where do we see capitalist relations ordering world politics? Iraq
2003?
Problems of world systems analysis and Marxism
Some critiques of WSA
Marxists argue that WSA has too much focus
on exchange at the expense of production
Suggests little room to move deterministic
actors are a product of the system do they
have any autonomy?
Semi-periphery is not the politically stable
zone can be unstable (e.g.. The Middle East)
Liberalism
the end of the Cold War and the collapse of
communism is seen as evidence that Marxs
ideas no longer relevant
Fukuyamas end of ideology and triumph of
the West?
Critiques of Marxism:
Is class conflict necessary to realise
socialism?
Is the proletariat the force for revolutionary
change?
Is the state always an instrument of the
ruling class?
Universalism - assumed cosmopolitanism
Realists
Marxism underestimates the power of
nationalism, war, and the state, as well
as the importance of the balance of
power and geopolitics
- economic reductionism.
Important things!
Mid semester break next week

Week 7 Essay writing in preparation for the major essay recap week on theories
and cases, planning your major essay in good time.

Big Debate
Your tutorial group will decide which case study to use for the Big
Debate and youll be split into your teams.
Begin planning your case as to why your theoretical approach best explains world
politics today, using the selected case study as the key example.