Το κράτος και ο πόλεμος ως άξονας ερμηνείας της διεθνούς πολιτικής αλλαγής στη μαρξιστική θεωρία

Master Thesis
Author
Μπαμπαγενές, Ηλίας Ε.
Date
2012-02-15View/ Open
Subject
Πολιτική και πόλεμος ; Παγκόσμια πολιτική ; Διεθνείς σχέσεις ; Μαρξιστική οικονομική ; Πολιτικές θεωρίες και ιδεολογίεςAbstract
State and War are basic significances for the science of International Relations. In this thesis they are developed as axis of interpretation of International Political Change in the Marxist theory. Marxism is included in the Revolutionary Current of theories of International Relations and from this aspect is a theory of International Political Change. Its main characteristics under this classification are, according to Martin Wight and Robert Gilpin: the universality but also the division, the overshooting of limits of international and internal policy and the method of forecast. These characteristics run through the analysis, via a historical frame that is focused mainly in the period between the two World Wars. The question that is investigated is the interdependence between the internal and international field of analysis. For this aim we examine the Marxist assumptions in connection with the International Relations’ reflection, but also the development of significances of State and War in the theory. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels were focused in the internal society, while Vladimir Ilyich Lenin adapted creatively the Marxist assumptions in the intensely internationalized economies of the end of 19th century and the beginning of 20th. The State, in the Marxist theory, reflects the productive relations. In a class society, the means of production belong in a sovereign class' the superstructure, reflects and ensures this relation of sovereignty. The State therefore, is deemed as a tool that ensures the sovereignty of a class on some other (afterwards the appearance of class oppositions). The theorists of Marxism were focused in the analysis of capitalistic society and demanded the revolutionary change from part of the working class in the level of state, as well as the transmission of this prospect in the international level. The capitalistic state is replaced then by the Socialist state, which reflects the new relations in the production and shapes a new typology, directed in the surpassing of state. The War is treated in the frames of internationalization of capitalistic economy. The class struggle is fundamental. According to the Marxist assumption, the states are not autonomous. Therefore, the wars are faced as the resultant of economic competition between the sovereign classes of given countries. The main question here concerned the analysis of Lenin on Imperialism, but also his assumptions on “fair and unfair wars”, “unequal growth” and “weak link” in the international system. Moreover, the subject of guerilla war is examined, as an aspect of typical revolution of 20th century but also how this affected the meaning of Political. Also, the question of peace is examined, which through the Marxist frame, but also through the general developments that took place between the Two World Wars, was treated as a means' in connection with the wider objectives. The empirical part of the thesis includes two important case studies, which are developed in order to control the theory. The October Revolution constitutes an aspect of overshooting of limits between international and internal policy: the conversion of the international fact of World War to an internal fact (revolutionary change in the state level). The Third International (Communist International or Comintern), constitutes the reverse aspect of this relation: the revolutionary change that was expressed in the level of state acquires international character. So, the strategy that led to October Revolution is examined, as well as the strategy of the Comintern, in connection with the theoretical assumptions and general developments.