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THE MARXIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY APPROACH TOINTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

INTRODUCTION

1. Political economy is the social science that deals with political

science and economics as a unified subject; the study of the

interrelationships between political and economic processes. It is also

the study and use of how economic theory and methods influence

political ideology. Political economy is therefore the interplay betweeneconomics, law and politics, and how institutions develop in different

social and economic systems, such as capitalism, socialism and

communism. Political economy analyzes how public policy is created and

implemented.

2. The subject explores the relationship between individuals andsociety and between markets and the state, using additional methods

drawn from economics, political science, and sociology. Political

economy is thus concerned with how countries are managed, taking into

account both political and economic factors. The field encompasses

several areas of inquiry, including the politics of economic relations,

domestic political and economic issues, the comparative study of political

and economic systems and the study of international political economy.

3. The field has also expanded to verify the original rate of change of 

political institutions and the role of culture, even of imperialism in

explaining economic outcomes and developments. It analyzes such

public policy as monopoly, market protection and institutional

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corruption. International political economy is an inter-disciplinary field

comprising approaches to international trade, finance and state policies

such as monetary and fiscal policies affecting international trade. 

4. Political economy began with assertions of the "labour theory of  

value" and the "quantity theory of money". Three broad traditions of 

political economy which currently influence political science are

identified. These are:

a. The tradition of classical political economy.

b. The tradition of political economics which uses statistical and

modeling techniques to test hypotheses about the relationship

between government and the economy.

c. The Marxian tradition.

5. The purpose of this work is to examine the approach of Marxian

political economy within the global purview of international relations in

order to aid the understanding of its relevance and possible applications.

AIM

6. The aim of this paper is to examine the Marxian Political Economy

 Approach to International Relations.

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SCOPE

7. The paper would cover the following:

a. Historical Overview of Political Economy.

b. International Political Economy.

c. Perspectives of International Relations.

d. The Realists and Liberalists Political Economy Approaches to

International Relations.

e. Marxian Political Economy Approach to International

Relations.

f. Future of the Interstate System.

DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

8. International Relations. International relations is the study of 

relationships between countries including the roles of  states, inter-

governmental organizations, international nongovernmental 

organizations, non-governmental organizations and multinational 

corporations. It is both an academic and public policy field, and can be

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either positive or normative as it both seeks to analyze as well as

formulate the foreign policy of particular states. It is often considered a

branch of political science.1 

9. State.  A state is defined as a large social system with a

set of rules that are enforced by a permanent administrative body

known as government.2 

10. Sovereign. Sovereign is the ultimate power to control people

and events within the area of a state.3

11. Nation. Nation is decribed as a group of individuals who feel

that they have so much in common that they should all become a

particular state. Unlike the term state, the term nation refers to the

subjective feelings of its people. By this definition almost all the present

nations would like to become nation-states, but many nations are

actually parts of other states, and many states are not nation-states. On

the whole, nation-states can count on much greater loyalty from their

citizens than states that contain many nations, and this gives them

greater strength in international dealings. As you can see, the term

 “international” should really be “interstate”.

4

12. Society.  A society is the population controlled by a state or the

population that forms a nation, or both. Some societies are territorially

limited to a single geographical area and a single state while others are

1 Wikitionary.2

Concise Oxford Dictionary.3 Id4Encyclopedia Britanica.

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not. The term society, unlike the terms state and nation, is not limited to

a single definition because societies overlap with different states and

nations.5 

13. Country. A country is a well-defined geographical area.6

14. Interdependence. Interdependence refers to 2 or more nation-

states which are mutually dependent, i.e. national populations

become closely linked through international transactions. The notion

of independence of any society is totally relative in this century. Not

even the core societies are truly independent because their strength

depends, in part, on the control of resources that come from

peripheral and semi-peripheral areas.

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF POLITICAL ECONOMY

15. Political economy is an old subject of intellectual inquiry but a

relatively young academic discipline. The analysis of political

economy, in terms of the nature of state and market relations both in

practical terms and as moral philosophy, has been traced to Greek 

philosophers such as Plato,  Aristotle and other scholars whopropounded the natural laws of philosophy. A critical development in

the intellectual inquiry of political economy was the prominence of the

mercantilist school which called for a strong role of the state in

economic regulation.

5 Id6 Op Cit

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16. The writings of the Scottish economist, Sir James Stuart, whose

inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy in 1767 was considered

the first systematic work on economics; and the policies of Jean-

Baptiste Colbert, Controller-General to Louis XIV of France; epitomized

mercantilism in theory and in practice respectively. Political economy

emerged as a distinct field of study in the mid-18th century, largely as

a reaction to mercantilism, when the Scottish philosophers Adam

Smith and David Hume; and the French economist François Quesnay

began to approach this study in systematic terms. They took a secular

approach, ie refusing to explain the distribution of wealth and power

in terms of God's will; but instead, appealed to the political, economic,

technological and social factors and the complex interactions between

them.

17. Smith's landmark work, “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes

of the Wealth of Nations”, in 1776, which provided the first

comprehensive system of political economy, conveys in its title the

broad scope of early political economic analysis. Although the field

itself was new, some of the ideas and approaches it drew upon were

centuries old. It was influenced by the individualist orientation of the

English political philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke; theRealpolitik and Italian political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli; and the

inductive method of scientific reasoning invented by the English

philosopher Francis Bacon.

18. Many works by political economists in the 18th century

emphasized the role of individuals over that of the state and generally

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attacked mercantilism. This is perhaps best illustrated by Smith's

famous notion of the “invisible hand,” in which he argued that state

policies often were less effective in advancing social welfare than

were the self-interested acts of individuals. Individuals tend to

advance only their own welfare, Smith asserted, but in so doing they

also advance the interests of society as if they were guided by an

invisible hand. Arguments such as these gave credence to individual-

centred analysis and policies to counter the state-centred theories of 

the mercantilists.

19. The 19th century English political economist David Ricardo

further developed Smith's ideas. His work on the concept of 

comparative advantage, posited that states should produce and

export only those goods that they can generate at a lower costs than

other nations and import those goods that other countries can

produce more efficiently. Smith's notion of individual-centred analysis

of political economy did not go unchallenged. The German-American

economist Friedrich List developed a more-systematic analysis of 

mercantilism that contrasted his national system of political economy

with what he termed Smith's “cosmopolitical” system, which treated

issues as if national borders and interests did not exist. In the mid-19th century, communist historian and economist, Karl Marx proposed

a class-based analysis of political economy that culminated into his

massive critical treatise known as the ‘Das Kapital’.

20. In the second half of the 20th century, as social sciences became

increasingly abstract, formal and specialized in both focus and

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methodology, political economy was revived to provide a broader

framework for understanding complex national and international

problems and events. The field of political economy today

encompasses several areas of study including the politics of economic

relations; domestic political and economic issues; the comparative

study of political and economic systems; and international political

economy. The emergence of international political economy, first

within international relations and later as a distinct field of inquiry,

marked the return of political economy to its roots as a holistic study

of individuals, states, markets and society.

INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY

21. International political economy studies problems that arise from,

or are affected by, the interaction of international politics,

international economics, and different social systems and societal

groups. It explores a set of related questions that arise from issues

such as international trade, international finance, relations between

wealthier and poorer countries, the role of multinational corporations,

and the problems of hegemony along with the consequences of 

economic globalization. Analytic approaches to international politicaleconomy tend to vary with the problem being examined. Issues can

be viewed from several different theoretical perspectives, including

the mercantilist, liberalists, and structuralists’ perspectives.

22. Mercantilists are closely related to realists. They focus on

competing interests and capabilities of nation-states in a competitive

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struggle to achieve power and security. Liberalists are usually

optimistic about the ability of humans and states to construct peaceful

relations and world order. Economic liberalists, in particular, limit the

role of the state in the economy in order to let market forces decide

political and social outcomes. Structuralists’ ideas are rooted in

Marxist analysis and focus on how the dominant economic structures

of society affect class interests and relations. Each of these

perspectives are often applied to problems at several different levels

of analysis that point to complex root causes of conflict traced to

human nature, national interests and the structure of the international

system. For example, analysis of U.S. policy regarding migrants from

Mexico must take into consideration patterns of trade and investment

between the 2 countries and the domestic interests on both sides of 

the border. Similarly, domestic and international interests are linked

by trade, finance and other factors in the case of financial crises in

developing countries such as Nigeria. The distinction between foreign

and domestic becomes as uncertain as the distinction between

economics and politics in a world where foreign economic crises affect

domestic political and economic interests through trade and financial

linkages or through changes in security arrangements or migrant

flows.

23. Contemporary international political economy appeared as a

subfield of the study of international relations during the era of  Cold 

War rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States from

1945 - 1991. Analyses initially focused largely on international security

but later came to include economic security and the role of market

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actors, including multinational corporations, international banks,

cartels like OPEC, and international organizations like IMF, in national

and international security strategies. International political economy

grew in importance as a result of various dramatic international

economic events, such as the collapse of the Bretton Woods

International Monetary System in 1971 and the Oil Crisis of 1973–74.

Examples of other contributors to the increase in the importance of 

International Political Economy are the recent Global Economic

Meltdown and the Nigerian Merger/Acquisition and Financial Bail-out

of Banks.

24. Following the end of the Cold War, international political

economy became focused on issues raised by economic globalization,

including the viability of the state in an increasingly globalized

international economy. The role of multinational corporations in

generating conflict as well as growth in the “new global economy,” 

and various problems related to equity, justice, and fairness became

issues amongst analysts. In the 1950s and 1960s, American

economist W.W. Rostow, and other experts on Western economic

development, made popular the argument that after a period of 

tension, disorder and even chaos within a developing country that hadbeen exposed to the West, that the country would eventually

transform; and development would occur. In the late 1960s up to the

1990s, many development experts, from a structuralist’s point of 

view, posited a variety of explanations as to why many developing

countries did not seem to develop or change much. That is why the

German-born economist Andre Gunder Frank made popular the idea

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that, when developing countries connect to the West, they become

under-developed.

25. Social theorist and economist Immanuel Wallerstein, whose works

have made a lasting impact on the study of the historical development

of the world capitalist system, argued that development occurs only

for a small number of semi-peripheral states and not for those

peripheral states that remain the providers of natural resources and

raw materials to the developed industrial core states. Such themes

were evident in the 1990s and the early 21st century when a number

of politically and economically powerful multinational corporations

were accused of exploiting women and children in unsanitary and

unsafe working conditions in their factories in developing countries.

These cases and others like them were seen by some structuralists as

evidence of a “race to the bottom” in which, in order to attract

investment by international businesses, many developing countries

relaxed or eliminated worker-protection laws and environmental

standards.

PERSPECTIVES OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

26. The history of international relations based on nation-states is

often traced to the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, where the modern

state system was developed. Prior to this, the European medieval

organization of political authority was based on a hierarchical religious

order. Westphalia instituted the legal concept of sovereignty that did not

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exist in classical and medieval times, which essentially meant that rulers,

or the legitimate sovereigns, had no internal equals within a defined

territory and no external superiors as the ultimate authority within the

territory's sovereign borders.

27. Westphalia encouraged the rise of the independent nation-states

and the institutionalization of  diplomacy and armies. This particular

European system was exported to the Americas, Africa and Asia via

colonialism and has been viewed as the "standards of civilization". The

contemporary international system was finally established through

decolonization during the Cold War. The ability of contemporary

international relations discourse to explain the relations of these

different types of states is open to varying discourse. Many scholars

have viewed International Relations to include the individual level, the

domestic nation-state as a unit, the international level of transnational

and intergovernmental affairs, and the global level.

28. International Relations theory has a long tradition of   drawing on

the works of other social sciences. Many cite Sun Tzu's “The Art of  

War”, Thucydides'  History of the Peloponnesian War and Chanakya's

 Arthashastra as the inspiration for realist theory. Hobbes' “Leviathan” and Machiavelli's “The Prince” further elaborates on this theory.

Similarly, liberalism draws upon the works of Kant and Rousseau, with

the work of the former often being cited as the first elaboration of 

democratic peace theory. In the twentieth century, in addition to

contemporary theories of liberal internationalism, Marxism has been a

foundation of international relations.

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REALIST AND LIBERALIST POLITICAL ECONOMIC APPROACHES

TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

29. There have been many approaches in the study of international

relations. Some of these approaches are Institutionalism, Constructivism,

Idealism, Realism, Neo-realism, liberalism, neo-liberalism, Marxism and

others. Prominent among them are realism and liberalism. The term

realism comes from the German word ‘realpolitik’. Realpolitik is a

combination of two words: the Spanish "real" (meaning "royal") and the

German "politik" (meaning "politics"). Thus, realpolitik means "royal

politics", or the balance of power among monarchs. Bismarck coined the

term after following Metternich's lead in finding ways to balance the

power of European empires. Balancing power meant keeping the peace;

and careful realism practioners tried to avoid arms races. However,

during the early-20th Century, arms races and alliances occurred leading

to World War I.

REALIST APPROACH TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

30. The  Realists approach to International Relations believe thatnations act only out of self-interest and that their major goal is to

advance their own positions of power in the world. The ideas of realism

came from the writings of such historical figures as Sun Tzu of ancient

China, Thucydides of ancient Greece, and Italy’s Niccolò Machiavelli. All

of these thinkers argued that the leaders of nations use their power to

advance the interests of their own nations with little regard for morality

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or friendship. In order to survive, realists believe leaders must build their

power and avoid feelings of friendship or morality that might make them

vulnerable to more ruthless adversaries. They believed that conflict and

war are inevitable. For one nation to gain something, another must lose.

This means alliances with other nations cannot be counted upon and

cooperation between nations cannot last. Realists believe that nations

should always be heavily armed and ready for war. Friendships,

religions, ideologies, cultures and economic systems matter little.

 

31. Nations act selfishly and do not answer to any higher authority.

Realists argue that the actions of individual nations have the biggest

influence on international relations. They contend that nations act

rationally, not impulsively, and that they weigh the benefits and

drawbacks of all their options before choosing a course of action.

Furthermore, it is believed that nations are not driven by psychological

or cultural influences. Instead, they act with the knowledge that they

live in a world where there is no central government for all nations that

any nation can appeal to for justice or protection. Without that higher

authority, nations must protect themselves and look after their own

interests. Realists claim that these characteristics have applied to all

nations throughout history. As a result, realists presume thatinternational relations are primarily influenced by international security

and military power. They consider military force as the most important

characteristic of any nation. Other characteristics such as population,

moral beliefs or wealth matter primarily because they affect military

strength. They see international trade as a potential source of national

power, because nations can accumulate wealth by controlling trade.

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They believe a nation’s relative power compared to other nations is

more important than the well-being of its citizens. In a world with an

ever-present possibility of war, winning matters above all things.

32. The realist approach has been criticized for being too simplistic

and for failing to capture the complexities of international relations.

Since a nation’s power typically is very difficult to measure, realists have

been criticized for their belief that nations strive only to accumulate

power. Critics also argue that a nation’s actions result from the

conflicting pulls of various interest groups, constituencies, agencies, and

individuals. They maintain that the national interest of any nation may

be impossible to define because so many different constituencies exist,

and a nation’s pursuit of its interests may be far from rational. One

glaring example was World War I which seemed irrational because

almost all participants lost more than they gained.

33. Realism, thus, makes several key assumptions. It assumes that the

international system is anarchic, in the sense that there is no authority

above states capable of regulating their interactions. States must arrive

at relations with other states on their own, rather than it being dictated

to them by some higher controlling entity, that is, no true authoritativeworld government exists. It also assumes that sovereign states, rather

than international institutions, non-governmental organizations or

multinational corporations are the primary actors in international affairs.

 According to realism, each state is a rational actor that always acts

towards its own self-interest, and the primary goal of each state is to

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ensure its own security. For Realists, States are inherently aggressive

and that territorial expansion is only constrained by opposing power.

34. There are two sub-schools of realism, Maximal Realism and

Minimal Realism. The theory of Maximal Realism holds that, the most

desirable position to be in, is that of the hegemony which is the most

powerful entity in the world. Smaller entities will align themselves with

the hegemony out of political self-interests. They argue that non-

hegemonic states will ally against the hegemony in order to prevent

their own interests from being subsumed by the hegemony’s interests.

Under the Minimal-Realism theory, it is possible to have two equally

powerful co-hegemonies with whom any smaller entity may ally,

depending on which hegemony better fits with the smaller entity's

policies at the moment.

 

LIBERALIST APPROACH TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

35. Liberalism, on the other hand, holds that state preferences, rather

than state capabilities, are the primary determinant of state behaviours.

Preferences will vary from state to state, depending on their culture,

economic system or type of government. Different strands of liberalismlike commercial liberalism, liberal institutionalism, idealism and regime

theory have emerged. Over time, liberalism has evolved into neo-

liberalism. According to Andrew Moravcsik 7, the liberal approach focuses

on variations in socially-determined state preferences, distinguishing

liberal theory from other theoretical approaches like realism. In

explaining patterns of war, for example, liberals do not look to inter-7 Andrew Moravcsik, “" The New Liberalism," in Christian Reus-Smit and Duncan Snidal, eds

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state imbalances of power; bargaining failure due to private information

or uncertainty; or particular non-rational beliefs or propensities of 

individual leaders, societies or organizations. Instead, they look to

conflicting state preferences derived from hostile nationalist or political

ideologies; disputes over economic resources; or exploitation of 

unrepresented political constituencies. For liberals, a necessary condition

for war is that social pressures lead one or more "aggressor" states to

possess "revisionist" preferences so extreme or risk-acceptant that other

states are unwilling to submit.

36. In domestic politics, liberals have opposed feudal restraints that

prevent the individuals from rising out of low social status like barriers

such as censorship that limit free expression of opinion; and arbitrary

power exercised over the individuals by the state. In international

politics, liberals have opposed the domination of foreign policy by

militarists and the exploitation of native colonial people. Rather, they

have sought to substitute with a cosmopolitan policy of international

cooperation. In economics, liberals have attacked monopolies and

mercantilist state policies that subject the economy to state control. In

religion, liberals have fought against church interference in the affairs of 

the state and attempts by religious pressure groups to influence publicopinion. A case in point is the recent visit of the Pope to Poland where

citizens protested against the use of public funds for lavish receptions

for the Pope.

37. A distinction is sometimes made between negative liberalism and

positive liberalism. Between the mid-17th and the mid-19th centuries,

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relations are the World-Systems theory, led by Immanuel Wallerstein

and the Dependency theory led by Andre Gunder Frank.

39. The basic tenet of Marxism is that the world is divided not into

politically determined nations but into economically determined classes.

Consequently, politics does not supersede economics, but rather

economics supersedes politics. The various Marxist theories of 

international relations agree that the international state system was

constructed by capitalists and therefore serves the interests of wealthy

states and corporations, which seek to protect and expand their wealth.

The most successful International Relations theory derived directly from

Marxism is Immanuel Wallersten's World Systems Theory. According to

Wallerstein, the "First World" and "Third World" are merely components

of a larger world system which originated in 16th-century European

colonialism. They make up the "core" and the "periphery" of the world

systems respectively ie the central wealthy states which own and chiefly

benefit from the mechanisms of production; and the impoverished

"developing" countries which supply most of the human labour and

natural resources exploited by the rich. States which do not fit either

class, but lie somewhere in the middle of the model, are referred to as

"semi-peripheral."

40. The core-periphery thesis of world-systems theory is based upon

another body of work known as the Dependency Theory. It argues that

the basis of international politics is the transfer of natural resources from

peripheral developing countries to core wealthy states, mostly the

Western industrialized democracies. The poor countries of the world are

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said to provide inexpensive human and natural capital, while the foreign

policies of wealthy countries are devoted to creating and maintaining

this system of inequality. International economic law and other such

systems are seen as means by which this is done. To combat these

systems of inequality, traditional Marxists and dependency theorists

have argued that poor countries should adopt economic control policies

that can break them out of the prison of international economic controls

such as import substitution rather than the export-based models usually

favoured by international economic organizations such as the World

Bank and International Monetary Fund.

41. The Nigerian oil sector goes against this Marxian theory by its

constant export of crude oil. Infact, it is a known assumption that

Nigerian elites try hard to ensure that the Nigeria’s refineries do not

work. This is to guarantee the favour of international economic

organisations which in turn continues to enrich them.

FUTURE OF THE INTER-STATE SYSTEM AND INTERNATIONAL

POLITICAL ECONOMY

42. Today, many of the foundations of the interstate system are beingchallenged by changes in technology and international norms. The idea

of territorial integrity and a nation’s sovereignty, that is, its absolute

authority over its own internal matters, are being undermined. Neither

ballistic missiles nor television signals respect borders. Television, the

mass media, telephones and the Internet are erasing the boundaries

between nations, blending once distinct cultures together and expanding

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transnational connections. Mass communication is also drawing

worldwide attention to domestic issues that in the past were of little

concern to other nations, such as human rights, the status of women,

environmental practices and democracy. In addition, the territories of 

nations are changing. Some nations are becoming integrated into larger

entities, for example, the European Union. Others are fragmenting into

smaller units like the Soviet Union.

43. These changes have led to a debate among scholars about

whether the interstate system will survive in its current form or evolve

into another system that does not yet exist. Some scholars believe that

nations, with their different cultural identities, boundaries and

governments, are becoming obsolete. They believe economics is

becoming the driving force in international relations, encouraging

increased cooperation among nations. They believe that cooperation,

along with technological changes, will continue to blur the distinction

between nations and the importance of national borders. Other scholars

think that the interstate system will endure because nations have

military forces; and military forces still determine what happens in the

world and always will. The interstate system of nations remains intact,

but it is increasingly overlaid with new forces and realities that respectneither the idea of sovereignty nor borders.

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CONCLUSION

44. The international political economy faces a number of challenges

in the coming decades. The largest challenge is addressing the

dislocation caused by rapid economic change. While the theory of 

comparative advantage asserts that all nations benefit from free trade,

the benefits are not distributed equally. The increased economic

interdependence of rich and poor nations has resulted in a global

backlash, with many poor nations viewing their poverty as a direct

consequence of trade and open participation in the global economy.

45. The growing gap between developed and developing nations has

produced significant global backlash, ranging from anti-Western Islamic

movements in the Middle East; violence against immigrants in Germany;

to regular demonstrations at the annual meetings of the WTO and other

international financial institutions. The deep economic depression in the

former Soviet Union and socio-economic deterioration in Africa also

threaten the stability of an interdependent global economy.

46. It is an undeniable fact that we live in a globalising world. Theories

propounded by great philosophers do not give hard and fast rules onhow to tackle political and economic challenges being faced by nations

states. All theories as may have been understood during the course of 

this presentation are deficient in one aspect or the other. As such,

adopting a particular theory hook, line and sinker may not necessary be

the solutions to these problems. It is therefore the resolve of this

Syndicate, that every nation should have a good understanding of the

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uniqueness of their nation’s problems viz-a-viz the world international

systems. Accordingly, a blend of these theories, with a good sense of 

 judgement, should then be adopted.

REFERENCES

1. C ALLINICOS, ALEX  (2010). The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx .

Bloomsbury, London: Bookmarks. ISBN 9781905192687.

2. LENIN, VLADIMIR   (1967). Karl Marx: A Brief Biographical Sketch with 

an Exposition of Marxism . Peking: Foreign Languages Press.Available

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