2. Introduction
• Leading thinker- Alexander Wendt (American
Scholars): Anarchy is what states make of it
(1992) and Social Theory of International Politics
(1999) in response to ' Anarchy leads to Self-
help' (advocated by Realist Kenneth Waltz in
1979)
• According to Wendt, ' Anarchy is what states
make of it'
• Legitimacy: realism and liberalism both failed to
predict the event of the end of the Cold War
(President Mikhail Gorbachev’s revolutionary
foreign policy -Soviet Union)
3. Cont.
• After the end of the Cold War (beginning of the
1990s) scholars have turned to constructivism in
order to understand world politics/international
relations
[Previous theories focus on material things/
objects, military power, economic capacity/ pre
given national interest]
Main ideas:
• The international system is not a physical entity
or material object (like solar system)
• There is no natural law of society/ the social and
political world is not the part of nature
4. Cont.
• The social and political world is not given rather
it is socially constructed [thoughts, beliefs, ideas
and common understanding of individuals and
society]
• The environment in which states function is
social/ human creation
• The world politics/ international relations is
influenced by the ideas, thoughts, beliefs and
shared understandings of human beings and
society. [they shape world politics/ the nature of
the world scenario]
5. Cont.
• National interest and behaviour states / actors
are socially defined / socially constructed (they are
not given/fixed)
• Identities of states are also socially constructed
that determine their interests and behaviours
• Society gives meaning to many core concepts
(anarchy, security dilemma …) . So even if the
material condition is the same the meaning of
those conditions and human actions in such
conditions are different
• Global institutions are the norms setters and
creators. They socialize the states to accept new
6. Cont.
new norms, values and beliefs in the
international system. They have independent
effect on international relations
Major limitations:
• How, when and why do changes emerge? [it does
not explain the causes of change that lead to
change in ideas and shared understandings]
• It is an approach not a theory of international
relations [it cannot explain and replace the
theory of politics]
7. Marxism/ Marxist Theory
• Marxism is based on the basic ideas of Karl Marx
and his followers
Karl Marx (1818-1883): German philosopher,
economist, historian, and revolutionary social
scientist
Frederick Engels: German social scientist, political
theorist, philosopher, and the father of Marxist
theory alongside Karl Marx
Vladimir Lenin: Russian communist revolutionary
and politician (Premier of the Soviet Union from
1922 -1924)
8. Cont
Joseph Stalin: the leader of the Soviet Union (from
mid-1920s to until his death in 1953)
Mao Zedong :Chinese communist leader/
revolutionary politician
• Karl Marx did not propound any specific theory
of international relations. His followers adopted
and updated his scattered views which is
known as Marxism or Marxist theory of
international relations
Fundamental contradictions / philosophical
debates between Marxists and non-Marxists
9. Cont.
• Materialism vs. Non -materialism
Materialism: the world/society is real, governed
by its natural law and independent from human
ideas [Historical Materialism: a basic Marxist
thesis of human history and human society/
development of human history
Non –materialism: the world/society is
determined by human ideas and human
awareness. The social world is the world of human
ideas
• Social conflict vs. social harmony
10. Cont.
Non-Marxists believe that there is a harmony of
interest between various social groups in the …
society. However, Marxists view that every
society is prone to class conflict. (there is no
harmony of interest in the society- Conflict exists
in the society for progressive change/ dialectic
materialism)
• This philosophical debate between Marxists and
Non-Marxists reached in peak in the mid 19th
century.
• Marxism focus on the economic aspect of human
life and society
11. Basic Ideas
• Social class : there is a class division in the
society. Those who holds the means of
production belongs to one class ( capitalist class
or the Bourgeoisie and those who do not belong
to another class (the workers the Proletariat)
• Class struggle: a clash would occur between the
capitalist class and the workers because of the
capitalist mode of production. [in the capitalist
society workers/ proletariat are severely
exploited by bourgeoisie or capitalists] Class
struggle would bring new pattern of social
relations in the society. It would bring new social
12. Cont.
• order/ structure of the state and ultimately the
structure of world order
The Proletarian internationalism: the Proletariats/
workers all over the world are severely exploited
in the capitalist society. They are not bound by
national borders and national interest [ they can
unite at international level. The proletariat
internationalism would lead to world revolution
The World revolution: class division and
exploitation reaches its peak in the capitalist
society which leads to world revolution.
13. Cont.
• The revolution led by working classes would
overthrow the capitalist order and establish a
worldwide socialist society free from the
exploitation
Conclusion:
• Economic factors play important roles in
international relations
• Social classes are the basic units of analysis in
international relations
• Present international relation is dominated by
the interest of the capitalists/Bourgeois
14. Cont.
• Lasting peace can only be established with the
establishment of classless socialist societies in the
world
• There is no so called national interest rather
there are class interests as the general interest of
the society
• Marxism focus on uneven economic
development, poverty, exploitation within society
and between states
• It is the first theory that focuses on how
capitalism shapes the world and concludes that
resistance to the spread of capitalism is futile
15. Neo-Marxism
• Classical Marxism holds two assumptions:
- Capitalism develops equally in all parts of the
world / it would facilitate industrial development
for all people in the world
- Capitalism arises due to the ownership of the
means of production within the society
[ Class division exists within the society because of
the ownership of the means of production]
Neo Marxism/Contemporary Marxist Theory:
after the end of the Second World War, Marxists
have made some significant departures in their
16. Cont.
ideas from classical Marxists views which is
known as Neo-Marxism
According to Neo-Marxism:
• Capitalism does not develop equally in all
societies in the world. The peripheral societies
/developing countries remain underdeveloped
due to the common interests of the global
capitalists.
• They believe that capitalism emerges at global
level and impacts on its parts/ societies
17. Cont.
• They view capitalism as a mode of exchange
(arises as a result of unequal exchange of goods
and services at global level/ unequal
international exchange is the defining
characteristic of global capitalism)
Theories based on Neo-Marxism:
1. Dependency Theory
2. World System Theory
18. Dependency Theory
• Latin American scholars: Rual Prebish, AG Frank
(influenced by Marxism)
• It is based on the experience of the Latin
America
• Developed in the 1940s and 1950s/influential in
many developing countries during the 1960s and
in the 1970s
• Explains the difficult situation of development of
developing countries
Core Ideas:
• Capital and wealth in peripheral states/
19. Cont.
developing countries is not enough for their
overall economic development. So they have to
depend on advanced countries/ capitalist
economies for their overall development
• The global capitalism (advanced capitalist
countries) plunders pre capitalist economics (
developing economies) because resources are
extracted but nothing is given in return
• Developed countries export their surplus wealth
to developing countries which increases the
dependency of developing countries on
developed countries
20. Cont.
• The basic terms of trade and global institutions
help developing states to establish dependency
relationship with them
• Thus the third world countries must detach their
relationship with world capitalist economy/ global
capitalism [it is difficult because of the existence of
the local capitalists within the periphery]
Limitations: ignores internal weaknesses of
developing countries, the economic growth of
Southeast countries challenges its basic assumptions
and it focuses only on the core-periphery types of
relationships between states
21. World System Theory
[Immanuel Wallerstein, Robert Cox]
• The World System Theory analyzes the post
colonial international order/ world capitalist
system (after 1960s).
• Regional class division and exploitation exist in
the world [because of the capitalist nature of the
world economy]
• -Postcolonial world capitalist system is divided
into Core, Periphery and Semi-periphery regions
[ in terms of wealth and economic development]
The Core: The rich industrial regions of the world
22. Cont.
• It represents the owing class / capitalist class
that exploits periphery and semi-periphery
(accumulates wealth to build its industrial
infrastructure/development)
• It uses its economic strength/ power to acquire
political power and to shape world order
Periphery: the poor third world regions
• It represents the non owning class. It supplies
raw materials and cheap labors to the core
Semi-Periphery: It is an area or region that is not
as advanced as the core but ahead of the
23. Cont.
Periphery (in terms of wealth and economic
development)
• According to World System Theory, the present
world system is unequal. The core dominates
over the periphery and semi-periphery by
means of its economic strength
• The capitalist interests of the core try to
dominate both periphery and semi-periphery in
order to control the world system
Limitations: difficult to determine the exploitation of
periphery and semi-periphery/ different regions may
not share the same interests
