Marxist approach to International Relations

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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,...
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What is community? Explain why and how community identities are constructed.(IGNOU/UPSC/STATE EXAMS)

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 A community is a social unit, where people come together to share common interests and resources. Communities construct their identity around the objective factors such as territorial locations, a shared historical memory, shared traditions, common rituals and practices and a common language and a real or perceived common ancestry.

People all over the world are becoming increasingly conscious of their communal identities, the reasons are:-

COLONIALISM: The process of colonization, which began with industrial revolution, is a key factor that has led to the identity consciousness among the diverse communities and also to the inter-community conflicts. The policy of divide and rule, identifying the various ranked and unranked communities, different caste, communal and ethnic brigades were encouraged to maintain their external symbols. This whole process gave rise to identity consciousness.

THE ROLE OF RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: Religious movement involve themselves in the process of conversion and started to manipulate and misinterpret their common inter-communal heritage. For example, the efforts of Arya Samaj to treat Sikhism as part of larger Hindu religion, threatened the identity of the Sihks as a separate religious community.

IRRATIONAL AND HARD INTER-STATE BORDERS: During the   process of colonization, due to the territorial quest, the colonial masters changed the external borders of their colonies arbitrarily, illogically and irrationally through wars, annexations and partitions. In the post-colonial era, the new ruling elite adopted the hard borders concept making interaction across the border impossible thus threatening the solidarity and identity of the communities divided by the irrational borders.

FEAR OF ASSIMILATION AND HOMOGENISATION: Some of these communities feared assimilation and homogenization of their distinct identities by the majority community both regional and as well as national. To counter such a possibility, thy articulated their demand for territoriality based on their distinctiveness. For example, the Bado Kacharis, feared that they might face the same fate as that of many other plain tribal communities, which over the years got assimilated into the larger Assamese fold, if their territory was not clearly demarcated and recognized

SENSE OF RELATIVE DEPRIVATION AND DISCRIMINATION: Denial of equality by the state in economic and political fields also creates a sense of discrimination and deprivation among the communities. Minority communities are always at the risk of deprivation in power, services and resources.

SENSE OF POWERLESSNESS: This is primarily the direct outcome of the majoritarian-minoritarian syndrome. It leads to permanent deprivation of the minority communities from the state power and resources. The struggle of power between two communities could be seen at national and regional levels. The regional majorities always seek devolution/decentralization of powers whereas regional minorities support centralization of power and oppose the regional majorities particularly when the regional minority is a national majority. This sense of powerlessness both, in regional as well as national levels, promote the cause of community identity consciousness.

MODERNIZATION: Modern means of audio-visual mass media and communication have created parochial consciousness on unprecedented scale. Modernization has also produced political and economic competition on an unprecedented scale whereby elite mobilize the members of their community to have due share in power and resources in competition with other groups. Modernization sharpens differentiation, articulated group identity consciousness, and produces intra-group and inter-group competition which often degenerates into communal conflict and violence.

   The increasing awareness and assertion of community identities has resulted in unprecedented conflict and violence, re-demarcation of internal borders and has crossed all national borders.

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