Professional Documents
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Ideas
Forms of state
The conceptual fratnework, outlined so far, considers how
new modes of social relations of production become estab-
lished. Changes in the social relations of production give
rise to new configurations oi social forces. State power rests
on these configurations. Therefore, rather than taking the
state as a given or pre-constituted institutional category,
consideration is given to the historical construction of various
forms of state and the social context of political struggle.
This is accomplished by drawing upon the concept of
historical bloc and by widening a theory of the state to include
relations within civil society.
An historical bloc refers to the way in which leading social
forces within a specific national context establish a relationship
over contending social forces. It is more than sitnpiy a political
alliance between social forces represented by classes or
fractions of classes. It indicates the integration of a variety of
different class interests that are propagated throughout society
'bringing about not only a unison of economic and political
aims, but also intellectual and moral unity...on a "universal"
plane' (Gramsci 1971: i8i-2).The very nature of an historical
bloc, as Anne Showstack Sassoon (1987; 123) has outlined,
necessarily implies the existence of hegemony. Indeed, the
'universal plane' that Gramsci had in mind was the creation
of hegemony by a fundamental social group over subordinate
Neo-Gramscian perspectives in IR 91
The final and most recent criticisms arise from the call for
a much needed engagement by neo-Gramscian perspectives
with the writings of Gramsci and thus the complex
methodological, ontological, epistemological and contextual
issues that embroiled the Italian thinker (Germain and Kenny
1998). This emphasis was presaged in an earlier argument
warning that the incorporation of Gramscian insights into IR
and IPE ran 'the risk of denuding the borrowed concepts of
the theoretical significance in which they cohere' (Smith 1994:
t47).To commit the latter error could reduce scholars to the
accusation of 'searching for gems' in the Prison Notebooks in
order to 'save' IPE from a pervasive economism (Gareau 1993:
301). To be sure, such criticisms and warnings have rightly
drawn attention to the importance of remaining engaged with
Gramsci's own writings. Germain and Kermy also rightly call
for greater sensitivity to the problems of meaning and
understanding in the history of ideas when appropriating
Gramsci for contemporary application. In such ways, then,
the demand to remain (re)engaged with Gramsci's thought
and practice was a necessary one to make and well overdue.
Yet the demand to return Gramsci to his historical context
need not prevent the possibility of appreciating ideas both m
and beyond their context. Rather than the seemingly austere
historicism of Germain and Kenny's demands, which limit
the relevance of past ideas in the present, it is possible to
acknowledge the role played by both past forms of thought
and previous historical conditions in shaping subsequent ideas
and existing social relations (Morton 2003a). This method
pushes one to consider what might be historically relevant as
well as limited in a theoretical and practical translation of
past ideas in relation to alternative conditions.
Conclusion
Notes
* We would like lo thank Robert Cox and Kees van der Pijl for their
comments on this article in draft as well as two anonymous referees
of this journal, and Gerard Strange, for their supportive criticisms.
Adam David Morton also acknowledges the financial support of an
Ecotiomic atid Social Research Council (ESRC) Postdoctoral
Fellowship (Ref.: T026271041).
1. Although overlaps may exist, the critical impetus bears a less than
direct affiliation with the constellation of social thought known as
the Frankfurt School represented by, among others, the work of Max
Horkheimer,Theodor Adorno or, more recently, Jurgen Habermas
(Cox 1995a: 32). Hence, Cox may not explicitly understand himself
to be working within the fold of the Frankfurt School (Schecter
2002: 4). For a useful discussion ofthe contradictory strands and
influences between Frankfurt School critical theory and critical IR
theory see Wyn Jones (2000).
2. It is worth noting that, whilst the Keynesian welfare state form is
referred to by Cox as the 'neoliberal state', this precedent is not
followed.This is because confusion can result when using his term
and distinguishing it from the more conventional understanding of
neo-liberalism related to processes in the late 1970s and 1980s,
which he calls 'hyperliberalism'.
3. At first sight, this understanding of a restructured, but not eroded
role of the state, resembles Cerny's conceptualisation of the
'competition state' in globalisation (Cemy 2000a, 2000b). Rather
than withering away, Cemy argues that 'states play a crucial role as
stabilisers and enforcers ofthe rules and practices of global society'
(Cemy 2000b: 301). In contrast to neo-Gramscian perspectives,
however, the state is not understood as resting on and being
constituted by a particular configuration of social forces. Rather,
the state is understood as an independent actor intervening in the
market in different ways. As a result, 'competition state' analysis
falls into the trap of separating economics from politics and the
market from the state, resulting in an ahistoric analysis of different
social forms specific to capitalism (see Bumham 1994). In contrast
to 'competition state' analysis, regulation theory places an emphasis
on how a particular mode of regulation, constituted by the institu-
tional ensemble ofthe state, is related to a specific accumulation
regime, i.e. the way production is organised (for an overview of
Neo-Gramscian perspectives in IR 107
References
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