Kristina Danjiela Cvetich, Sesión 6

Sesión 6

Kristina D. Cvetich

Cox. R. (1993) Gramsci, hegemony and international relations: an essay in method. Gill. S. (ed.) Gramsci Historical Materialism and International Relations. New York: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 49-66.

Cox discusses Gramsci’s theory of hegemony and how it can function in terms of examining IR and problems of world order. He uses Gramsci’s concept of the State, which not only includes the government, but also the political structure of political society to show that the state is the basic entity in international relations, thus world hegemony begins with state hegemony and thus “the task of changing world order begins with the long, laborious effort to build new historic blocs within national boundaries” (Cox; p174).

This topic is relevant for academic research within IR because it shows how one can take a concept and apply it to something relevant to one’s studies, as the author did.

The concept of hegemony in IR is relevant to the development of my project, because I intend to examine the affects of hegemony within a specific society. Thus the Gramscian definition is particularly useful.