A Critical Evaluation of Marxist IR Theories

Essay from the year 2014 in the subject Politics - General and Theories of International Politics, grade: 1,2, University of Leicester, language: English, abstract: Marxist International Relations (IR) theory is fundamental to the discipline. Its distinct approaches are neither strictly positivist, nor post-positivist but derive insights from both methodologies. Common elements in the Marxist tradition are imperialism, exploitation, capital accumulation and expansion, as well as hegemony. Materialist approaches, i.e. those which privilege how natural resource endowment, geography, military capability, or technology influence the structure of international relations (Baylis et al. 2008:583) are prevalent.