Marxist Theory on International Relations

Name : Manjri Sap id: 500024231

Introduction

What is Marxist Theory?• Marxism is a theory of capitalism• To Karl Marx and his followers International

Politics is an extension of class war at the International level.

• In it the capitalists (states) are exploiting the poor (states) and for safeguarding their interests are resorting to wars and imperialism.

• The popularity of this approach has been increasing ever since 1917.

• Here is the list of capitalist countries and regions...

• North America, Central America, most of South America, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Iceland, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, most of Europe, Russia, Georgia, Lebanon, Israel, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Cambodia, Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand

Philosophical Foundations of Marxian Approach

• Marxist advocates that the class struggle between the two economic classes is a true fact.

• The working class in these countries are yet not in a position to overthrow this rule.

• The exploitation of the working class can come to an end in regard to their capacity to resist the exploitation done by the capitalists.

Fundamentals of Marxian approach to the study of international features.

1. Proletarian internationalism: Marxian view of internationalism politics is based on the concept of the proletarian internationalism. Proletarian internationalism includes:a. The world proletarian have a common interest

(to get rid of the exploitation by the bourgeoise).b. b. United action by the proletariat is one of the

first condition for the emancipation of the proletariat.

2. Anti - Imperialism• Marxian view of International Politics believes that

the breakup of the bourgeoise world order is inevitable.

• Capitalism has reached its final imperialism.• Wars, militarism and armed conflicts have become

the ways of imperialists. The contemporary era of international relations shows that:

a. capital has become international and monopolistic.b. Uneven political economic development is an

absolute law of capitalism.c. The revolution by the proletariat class in one part of the world would attract/ignite the oppressed classes of other countries for socialist revolution.

3. Self- determination

• Marxian approach accepts self determination as the principle of organizing the international society. It advocates that all nations of the world must be free to determine their political destiny. Colonial system must go. Self determination by all the nations alone can give an enduring and strong basis to international relations.

4. Peaceful co-existence

• The marxist advocate that all nation states of the world must live peacefully without criticizing or undermining others social, economic and political systems.

• The best way to achieve this is to try to work at the relations of the peaceful co-existence between socialist states and at least some if not all the capitalist states.

• The acceptance of peaceful co-existence however doesn’t means that limits of socialism have been achieved. That capitalism and imperialism will continue to prevail and shall never be overthrown but the struggle between the labour and the capitalist will decrease.

Marxism and International Relations

• the world, according to marxism, is dominated by the capitalist class, who control not only the means of production, but the instruments of governance in their respective societies.

• These instruments include, most prominently, the state and all its agencies (e.g., the military, the police, the courts), but also the media, educational institutions, dominant religious organizations, etc.

• to understand IR, in short, one must recognize that much of what happens in the world, domestically, internationally and globally, is an expression of the interests and power of the dominant classes.

• There is no such thing as the national interest; there is only class interest.

statistics

The continuing exploitation and poverty of much of the world: • 2.7 billion people live on less than $2.00 a day,

and wealth is becoming more and more concentrated

• In 2010, according to the world bank, the richest 50 people (!) in North America and Europe had the same income as poorest 2.7 billion people combined.

criticism

• Democratic socialists and social democrats reject the idea that socialism can be accomplished only through class conflict and a proletarian revolution.

• Some contemporary supporters of Marxism argue that many aspects of Marxist thought are viable, but that the corpus is incomplete or somewhat outdated in regards to certain aspects of economic, political or social theory.

• The critics describe it as a approach which cannot realistically explain the realities of politics and international politics.

conclusion

• Marxist theory talks about the capitalism: as to how the bourgeoise rule over the proletariat. They exploit the working class for their self interest.

• It tells that proletariat have to take some steps(unite and revolt) in order to overthrow the rule of dominating class.

• But in actual practice socialism cannot be accomplished only through class conflict and a proletarian revolution according to some social democrats.

Bibliography

• An Introduction to International Realtions- Gulam Mohammad Dar• http://instructional1.calstatela.edu/tclim/S10_

Courses/427s10_marxism.pdf• http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploa

ds/2011/09/ENGL301-Marxist-Theory.pdf