Marxism in International Relations.
Marxism in International Relations.
Marxism in international relations is a very different concept of IR from the traditional theories such as
realism and neo-realism, it is both classical and critical in its theory. Marxism is one of the most
influential philosophies in contemporary international relations. It provides a different perspective on
‘International Affairs,' particularly the realist theory of international relations. Marxism is classified as a
positivist theory, which includes both Marxist and neo-Marxist views that deal with international politics
and relations. There is another subcategory in IR, Postpositivist theories, which include postmodernism
and poststructuralism, They are viewpoints that challenge the realist and liberal views of state conflict,
focusing instead on economic and material elements.
Developed in the context of the cold-war era, marxism stands for liberatory ideas such as equality, justice
and fraternity.
Marxism, as a major theory of international relations (IR), provides a different perspective on the term
"international relations," particularly in reference to the realism theory of international relations.
However, like realism, marxism does too share an obsession with diagrams and structures. Marxism, as it
is understood, is grounded in Karl Marx's philosophical, economic, and political works. It's critical to
distinguish between Marxism and Marx's economic and political ideas. Karl Marx was a
nineteenth-century German philosopher and economist who advocated for a dramatic shift in the world
system's structure and believed in a materialistic view of history. In many aspects, he criticizes economic
liberalism through his intellectual knowledge. He criticizes the liberal conception of the economy as a
positive-sum game (The sum of winnings and losses in a "positive-sum" outcome is larger than zero.) that
benefits everyone and is governed by its own set of rules.
According to him, the economy is a factor that contributes to human exploitation and class inequality.
Today's Marxism is based on Karl Marx's works, but it does not merely apply his economic and social
theories to present world relations. It even dismisses some of Marx's basic ideas as obsolete and irrelevant
with respect to contemporary society.
Marxism as a concept:
Marxism is the only theoretical perspective in IR that is named after a person. This concept too birth to
change the existing traditions and norms rather than evaluating it from the third-party perspective. Marx
and Engels in the 1980s continuously wrote about and widely criticized capitalism which according to
them had destroyed the foundations of international systems. Capitalism has always been inextricably
linked to colonialism, dominance, and imperialism. Ans marxism was a movement against capitalism and
for protecting the rights of the working class. Marxists and neo-Marxists have created complex conceptual
tools and approaches to explain social reality in order to criticize capitalism and its effects on human life.
He and Engels created a revolutionary method and defined a set of conceptions that transcended national
boundaries, as well as practical suggestions on how to build a transnational people's movement. When it
comes to IR, they were not just confined to the analysis of the formation of states or the interactions
between them, but, the cause of their study was industrialization and how the class system that came into
existence along with it, where the national bourgeoisie suppressed and exploited the working class
(proletariat). Marxism looks at the world with totality, which is a feature that it shares with realism, but at
the same time, focuses on the economy of nations and the globe, with the goal of separation of classes. It
gives economic status precedence over other aspects of society. It has also arisen as a highly powerful and
dominant form of social thought, with critical as well as emancipator intent or aspiration.
According to Marx, anything that has large power also has the power to emancipate. Marxism advises that
concepts are not just meant to help us understand the world – they should also help us change it.
According to Marx, “philosophers had only interpreted the world whereas the real point was to change
it” Marxism believed in revolutionary actions that would help in achieving enlightenment ideals of
liberty, equality, and fraternity, which would free all human beings from exploitation and domination in
the new world. As a result, we may claim that Marxism remains relevant for us since it provides a
comprehensive understanding of capitalist globalization and fragmentation.
Marx has borrowed a lot of ideas from Hegel. However, Marx recognised that members of the Hegelian
movement had overlooked the historical significance of technology (forces of production) and production
relations (the separation between owners and those who must work for them). For Marx, a left-Hegelian
religious belief was an expression of people's unhappiness and ambitions as they struggled with the
material realities of everyday life, rather than an intellectual error that could be rectified by philosophical
investigation.
Marxism fundamentally questions the meaning of the term "international" in the field of international
relations. Marxists argue that such conceptions are problematic because they lead us to believe in illusions
or myths about the reality, whether it is anarchy for realists or international society for the English school.
Marx analysed the society in a materialistic way rather than a idealistic analysis of society. Historical
materialism is Marx's major hypothesis for thedevelopment of capitalism. Materialistic conditions as
defined are the conditions that allows on individual to survive or sustain in the society. According to
Marx, we understand society by the existing arbitrary ideas on various units of society like family,
marriage, religion and the like. And these arbitrary ideas are created by different agencies. Acc to Marx,
it is the human beings that have a certain kind of agency that changes the world around us. It is not the
idea that is changing, it is these agencies that cause the change. Therefore, Marxism asserts that material
conditions can be changed by the actions of human beings as well as by events. And capitalism was one
such agency, according to Marx, created a change and it always wanted to grow and expand, which is
called as the cyclical rhythm of capitalism. Marx acknowledged the fact that capitalism was a patriarchal
system and it does not go anywhere, instead it changes its form. By forcing members of the working class
to compete with each other for employment, it managed to divide humanity.
Economic issues in the society constitute the base in the Marxist political philosophy; every other aspect,
such as politics, culture, education or religion, remains at the superstructural level, dependent on
economic factors. Marxists argue that socialism can realise the claims to freedom and quality that
capitalism now has. Marx's critique of capitalism must be viewed in this light: it is a critique from inside
the capitalist order, not an outside threat.
Conclusion.
Marxism has made several breakthroughs in the development of the discipline of IR. it contributes to the
theory of international relations by materiastic conception of history, strives to put this advise into practise
by focusing on how people have modified the land, produced goods on it, and are ultimately reliant on its
resources for the formation of political institutions like the state and international organisations. It
analyses the class relations and property relations. It widely critisizes the concept of capitalization, and is
in a way an emancipatory model, which aims to alter how thw world looks, or reshape the enitre class
sytem, and societal structure. According to Marxists, realist understanding is not as objective and innocent
as it appears. International relations analysis can obscure exciting power and inequality relationships; it
can also contribute to replicate unequal and unjust societies, but it can also aim to reveal the primary
systems of dominance and exclusion and envision alternative ways of existence. International relations
theory, on the other hand, should not be solely Marxist in approach, nor should it be limited to questions
of capitalist production. The emphasis of the Marxist perspective is on classes, implying that a society's
internal and economic characteristics determine its exterior connections with other governments.
Furthermore, there is still no viable alternative to Marxist interpretations of capitalism, as world system
theory and dependency theory offer profound and significant insights into the underdevelopment of the
third world.