Critical theoryA post-positivist approach to IR influenced by Marxist thought advanced by the 'Frankfurt School'.
Critical theory rejects three basic postulates of positivism: 1. an objective external reality, 2. the subject/object distinction, 3. and value-free social science.
Critical theorists emphasize the fundamentally political nature of knowledge. They seek to liberate humanity from the conservative forces and 'oppressive' structures of hegemonic (U.S.-dominated) world politics and global economics. Critical theorists are similar to idealists in their support for progressive change and their employment of theory to help bring about that change.
Neogramscianism
• Based on Machiavelli, Marx, Max Weber, Karl Polányi• Power: exploitation and consent
• Consent leads to formation of a loyal civil society
• Historic blocs: determined by the hegemonic ruling classes• Historical change: through the rivalry of hegemonic interest groups and counter-hegemonic interest groups
• Kees van der Pijl
Hegemonic states vs contender states• Lockean heartland: England, USA
• Contender states: France, Germany, SU, China
• Rivalry• England - France• England, USA - Germany• West - Soviet Union• West - Islam• West - China
Hegemonic states vs contender states• Lockean heartland: England, USA (capitalist interest groups freeing themselves from the state and using the state for their own reasons)• Contender states: France, Germany, SU, China (interest groups positioning themselves around the state and being controlled by the state)
• Rivalry• England - France• England, USA - Germany• West - Soviet Union• West - Islam• West - China
Atlantisation of Europe and Europe’s responses
Charles de Gaulle
Atlantisation of Europe and Europe’s responses
Enrico Mattei
Atlantisation of Europe and Europe’s responses
Willy Brandt
Atlantisation of Europe and Europe’s responses
European Roundtable
of Industrialists
Jacques Delors
Atlantisation of Europe and Europe’s responses
Gerhard Schröder Jacques Chirac
Preparing the neoliberal turn
• Henry Ford, New Deal, Keynes• 1960s and 1970s• Mont Pelerin Society• Chile, Allende vs Pinochet (Milton Friedman as economic advisor)
Preparing the neoliberal turn
Aldo Moro
Making the neoliberal turn
Harold Wilson Margaret Thatcher
Making the neoliberal turn
• Bilderberg Group• Trilateral Commission (CFR, D. Rockefeller)
Making the neoliberal turn
Rupert Murdoch
Making the neoliberal turn
Paul Volcker
Breaking the “Soviet nut”
Gorbachev Yeltsin
Breaking the German will to reunite Europe under German control
Olof Palme
Breaking the German will to reunite Europe under German control
Thatcher and Gorbachev
Breaking the German will to reunite Europe under German control
Helmut Kohl Alfred Herrhausen
Atlantism on the Balkans
Compensating neoliberalism
• Compensating the poors for the losses suffered because of neoliberal structures of the economy• Tobin-tax
Oskar Lafontaine Dominique Strauss-Kahn
China, the rise of the new superpower• Teng Hsiao Ping• Rise of the state capitalist elite + overseas Chinese• Macau, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore
• Since 1979: World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention
Ratio within population
Quoted capital share
Thailand 10% 81%
Indonesia 3.5% 73%
Malaysia 29% 61%
Philippines 1.8% 60%
China, the rise of the new superpower
Reserves more than $2000 billion
China, the rise of the new superpower
Hu Jintao
Bhumibol AdulyadejThaksin Sinatwatra
“Who owes the money makes the musicians play”
“Hurray! Hurray! I’ve climbed to the top of
the greasy pole!”Benjamin Disraeli
when he was named to be the Prime
Minister in England (1868)
Setting the rules of the game
“The business of business is business.”
(Milton Friedman)
Theorizing the rules of economics
(setting the domain of thinking about socioeconomic
relations)
“History is written by
the winners.”
Writing history
“There is a certain
amount for which my hair gets scaly.”
Thematizing the public
opinion
social sciences: making “truth claims”
“Who owes the money makes the musicians play”
Rules (politics)
Theories(economics)
Making “truth claims”
(history)
Thematizing the society
(media)
opinion shapers influencing the framework according to their own value order and/or interests(influential groups using market mechanisms i.e. money)
Muslim distribution
Muslim distribution
Arab world
Arab world
Arab world
official language: greenone of official languages: blue
Mohammed Mossadegh (1951-53)
Mohammed Mossadegh (1951-53)
Iraq-Iran war 1980-1988
Iraq-Iran war 1980-1988
Tehran hostage crisis 1979
Lockerbie, al Megrahi
April Glaspie - Saddam meeting
Charlie Wilson’s war
Saudi Arabia - JECOR
Dollar for oil, government bonds for dollar, modernization for bond yield
Pakistan - Zia ul Haq
Ahmed Chalabi
Russia
Blue stream
Nabucco
South stream
Russian privatization
Anatoly Chubais
Oligarchs
Berezovsky Khodorkovsky Abramovich
3 Power Centers in Russia
Soskovets Chernomyrdin Luzhkov
Primakov after the crisis
Primakov
And then...
Putin
Hobbes vs Locke
Hobbes Locke
George Bush’s War (ON Terror)
Ahmadshah Massoud
Money spent on terrorsim is 54 times more People killed by coronary heart disiease is 6600 times more $1 spent on a victim of coronary heart disease while $356.400 spent on a victim of terrorism
George Bush’s War (ON Terror)
• 2007: US department of defense spent $161,8 billion on “global war on terrorism”
• 2004: roughly 2000 people were killed internationally due to supposed terrorist attacks (70 were American)
Ahmadshah Massoud
Money spent on terrorsim is 54 times more People killed by coronary heart disiease is 6600 times more $1 spent on a victim of coronary heart disease while $356.400 spent on a victim of terrorism
George Bush’s War (ON Terror)
• 2007: US department of defense spent $161,8 billion on “global war on terrorism”
• 2004: roughly 2000 people were killed internationally due to supposed terrorist attacks (70 were American)
• What is the leading cause of death in America?
• Roughly 450.000 people dies in America in coronary heart disease
• 2007: Government spending on research on coronary heart disiease: $3 billion
Ahmadshah Massoud
Money spent on terrorsim is 54 times more People killed by coronary heart disiease is 6600 times more $1 spent on a victim of coronary heart disease while $356.400 spent on a victim of terrorism
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