Intro

We have progressed from Realism and Liberalism to the international school of thought known as Marxism. It is obvious that Marxism has had an impact on the conversations concerning international politics. While it may not receive the fanfare that Realism or Liberalism has, it is nonetheless an important perspective worth exploring. Marxism can be summed up in one concept, capitalism is bad and the world suffers for it. However, I want to do a little more exploring than just this simple explanation. I have discussed Realism and Liberalism in previous posts and I suggest checking those out. For now, let’s look at, what I consider, the paranoid outlook of Marxism.

Simple History

Marxists tend to claim that they have history going back centuries. Though, in reality it was mainly created by Karl Marx and to a lesser extent Fredrick Engels. They created their theories during the industrial revolution in the 19th century. Marxism was more developed during the 20th century. In fact, Marxism is the only school of thought actually named after its originator. It was, and continues to be, an important look at how international relations exist. However, it was originally more focused on domestic politics, but future thinkers have used some of Marx's ideas to formulate a train of thought on international relations.

Capitalism

Marxism tends to focus on economic and material aspects rather than politics or co-operation. Upfront, Marxism believes global instability happens because of capitalist globalization. You will find that capitalism is the Marxist boogieman. All inequality and dependence are linked to the dreaded capitalism. On that note, Lenin, a Marxist, believed imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism. In fact, Marxism argues that capitalism and the modern sovereign state system is not natural or inevitable. Instead, capitalism and the modern sovereign state system are interdependent on one another. Marx pushed for a revolutionary movement to counter exploitative and unequal effects of capitalism. The IR (international relations) part of Marxism is based on survival, reproduction, technologies, and labor.

Dependency

Marxists tend to see international relations as being expressed through dependency. We will explore how this is different from Realism and Liberalism later on in this post. It is purposed by Marxists that the globe can be split between the oppressive and rich north and the oppressed and poor south. These are referred to as the global north and global south. It is believed that the global south is dependent on the global north.

Dependency Theory

There is also the Dependency Theory, which is widely connected to Marxism. Essentially, this theory states that developed countries will create a dependency from developing countries. In fact, the world, in its entirely, functions on economic dominance. This leads to the World Systems Theory.

World Systems Theory

The World Systems Theory was created by Immanuel Wallerstein in the 1970s. This theory sees countries in one of three different groups. These groups are: the core, the semi-periphery, and the periphery. The core are countries that are democracies that provide high wages and encourage high levels of investment and welfare services. They tend to be countries like those in Western Europe or North America. Semi-periphery countries are authoritarian governments that provide low wages and poor welfare services. These tend to be Latin American countries. Lastly, periphery states are nondemocratic countries where workers expect wages below subsistence levels and there are no welfare services. Periphery countries are like that of sub-Saharan countries, central Africa, and South Asia. Even though there may be accounts of periphery countries becoming semi-periphery, capitalism will always need a peripheral region of some sort to exist. This is so the core will be able to sustain a high level of consumption and security.

Marxism Compared to Realism and Liberalism

Marxism is different from the perspectives of Realism and Liberalism. For one, rather than focusing on power or co-operation, Marxism focuses on economics and dependence. Marxists don’t see the structure as being anarchic, instead they see it as the effects of the capitalist mode of production. This, in turn, defines unjust political institutions and state relations. Unlike Liberalism, Marxism doesn’t see democracy as this great philosophy for governments. Marxists see democracy as a way to strengthen the elite and capitalistic economies. A place Marxists and Liberalists may agree on is the idea that international or nongovernmental organizations have a place in international affairs. However, again, Marxists consider these groups to only benefit the capitalist block of countries. A problem pointed out by critics of Marxism is that these theories were created with a Eurocentric belief that tends to promote ideas from the enlightenment and thoughts on cosmopolitanism.

Conclusion

Marxism certainly has its place amongst the schools of thought concerning international politics. This cannot be denied. Marx and his teachings have influenced a plethora of ideas and arguments to be had. If you enjoyed this post on Marxism, I suggest you look into my other posts concerning the different schools of thought.