INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORIES: GLOBALISM/ DEPENDENCY AND THE CAPITALIST WORLD SYSTEM Dr. MARGARITA SESELGYTE Institute of International Relations and.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORIES: GLOBALISM/ DEPENDENCY AND THE CAPITALIST WORLD SYSTEM

Dr. MARGARITA SESELGYTEInstitute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius university, 2010

DEFINITION OF GLOBALISM Political scientist Joseph Nye co-founder of the neo-

liberalism argues that globalism refers to any description and explanation of a world which is characterized by networks of connections that span multi-continental distances

Globalization refers to the increase or decline in the degree of globalism

Globalism may be contrasted with individualism, localism, nationalism, regionalism or internationalism

GLOBALISM

Overall structure of the international system is a starting point of analysis

Historical development of the World capitalist system enables to understand current inter-state relations

Particularly interested in the mechanisms of domination

The destiny of the country is pre-determined Economic factors matter most

COMPARISON BETWEEN REALISM, PLURALISM AND GLOBALISM Realism – how stability in anarchic world

could be maintained Pluralism – how peaceful change can be

promoted in a interdependent world Globalism – why so many third world states

have been unable to develop

WORLD –SYSTEMS THEORY

The world-systems theory (also known as the world-systems analysis is a multidisciplinary, macro-scale approach to world history and social change

The founder – Immanuel Wallerstein

ORIGINS OF WORLD SYSTEM THEORY World-system theory emerged in the 1970s World-system was aiming to replace the

modernization theory Three major predecessors of world-system

theory are: the Annales school, Marxist, and dependence theory

Samir Amin, Giovanni Arrighi, Andre Gunder fFrank, Immanuel Wallerstein, Christopher Chase – Dunn, Janet Abu Lughod, Kunibert Raffer

IMMANUEL WALLERSTEIN

The most well-known version of the world-system approach has been developed by Immanuel Wallerstein

World-systems analysis calls for an uni-disciplinary historical social science

Definition of world system Temporal features of the world

system Types of world systems

MARXISM

Karl Heinrich Marx (5 May 1818—14 March 1883) Marxism is a political philosophy, economic

and sociological worldview based upon materialist interpretations of history

Three primary aspects of Marxism: The dialectic and materialist concept of

history The critique of capitalism Advocacy of proletarian revolution

NEO -MARXISM

Various twentieth-century approaches that amend or extend Marxism

Incorporating elements from other intellectual traditions, such as: critical theory, psychoanalysis, Existentialism

Many prominent neo-Marxists, such as Herbert Marcuse and other members of the Frankfurt School, were sociologists and psychologists.

Neo-Marxism comes under the broader framework of the New Left

DEPENDENCY THEORY

Fernando Henrique Cardoso Division of labour and inequality Two level picture of domination Criticized by World – system theorists

JOHN A. HOBSON (1858 – 1940). Theory of imperialism Capitalist societies were faced with 3 basic

interrelated problems: overproduction, under-consumption, over-savings

Investment in the less developed countries

LENIN (1870 – 1924)

Theory that explained the necessity of capitalist exploitation of less developed countries

Under-consumption and overproduction caused capitalists to scramble for foreign markets

Proletarian class would grow leading ultimately to revolution in all capitalist countries

ROSA LUXEMBURG (1870- 1919) Revolution vs. Reform Revolution as the only effective means of

transformation of society Reformism abandoned marxism principles Imperialism has negative impact on colonies

ANTONIO GRAMSCI (1891 – 1937) Not a hard liner Offered constructivist approach to both

theory and practice Prison notebooks Historical and ideological bloc may bloch

the change and retain status quo

DEPENDENCY

Dependency is bad One – way advantage is inherent to capitalist

system and is necessary to sustain it Transnational class relations are more important

than those among states Multinational organizations are tools for exploitation Comprador class aids in exploitation of its own

society

WORLD-SYSTEM

System contains core, periphery and semi-periphery and is organized according the principle of labor division

Labor division increases inequalities between regions

Anarchy makes it impossible to legislate the general will of the world

States and politics must be analyzed in the context of capitalist world system

CHANGE

Changes in actors’ positions Economic cycles Structural transformation Radical transformation

GLOBALISMAN IMAGE OF A ‘LAYERED PIE’

Dependency

World system

Economic factors

CRITIQUE OF GLOBALISM

Question of causality Reliance on economics Downplay of domestic variables Lack of unified theory Anomalies

RESEARCH PROSPECTS AND PROGRAM Reasons of underdevelopment in ‘Third

World’ Anti – globalization movements Economic programs of international

organizations in ‘Third World’

QUESTIONS