Marxist approach to International Relations
The Marxist approach to the study of international relational is unconventional, as it insists on the need for change, unlike the realist and liberals. It is not status-quoits and stands for radical change of the existing international/world order.
Liberals and Realist theories hold that power is organized vertically, reflecting the division of the world into independent states, Marxism advances a theory of horizontal organization based on international class.
Marxist agrees that the social world must be viewed and analyzed in totality. They insist that understanding one without knowledge of the other is not possible because the social world can only be studied as a whole.
Another key element of the Marxist approach is the materialist conception of history. Economic development serves as the motor of history. The central dynamic that Marx identifies is tension between means of production and relations of production that together form the economic base of a given society. The legal, political, and cultural institutions and practices of a given society reflect and reinforce the pattern of power and control in the economy. It follows logically, therefore, that change in the economic base ultimately leads to change in the 'legal and political superstructure.'
Marxism also attributes a very special status to class in their analyses of society. It holds that society is systematically prone to class conflict. In capitalist society, the main axis of conflict is between the bourgeoisie (capitalist) and the proletariat (workers).
The main strength of Marxist approach to international relations lies in its ability to reveal the hidden workings of global capitalism which is analytically crucial, as they provide the context in which international events occur.
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