How international institutions rebuild neoliberal hegemony

- In Neo-Gramscian terms -

László HáfraAugust 6, 2015

University of Toronto

Outline

• Gramsci and the Hegemony• Historic Bloc• Counter-Hegemony• Approaches to the Neoliberalism• World Order and Neo-Gramscianism• International Institutions: Agendas and Policies• Conclusion• Q&A

Gramsci and the Hegemony• Who is Antonio Gramsci?• Europe in the 1920s and 1930s:

Great War1917: Russian Revolution War of PositionConsolidation of Capitalism

• Hegemony:Hegemony „is a dynamic lived process in which social identities,

relations, organizations and structures based on asymmetrical distributions of power and influence are constituted by the dominant classes.”

Chin, C. B. N., & Mittelman, J. H. (1997). Conceptualizing Resistance to Globalization. New Political Economy, 2(1), 25.

Historic Bloc

„Hegemony is established when power and control over social life are perceived as emanating from 'self-government' […] as opposed to an external source(s) such as the state or the dominant strata” (Chin & Mittelman, 1997, p. 25).

• Who owns the power? • Historic Bloc:

• Intellectual and moral leadership• Common sense and ideology -> assures to adopting common sense• Coercion and consent -> forcing them into a consent• Dominant culture and media• Status quo

Chin, C. B. N., & Mittelman, J. H. (1997). Conceptualizing Resistance to Globalization. New Political Economy, 2(1), 25-37.

La Porta, L. (1987). Gramsci hegemónia-fogalmának aktualitása. Fordulat, Tanulmányok Gramsciról, 143-165.

Counter-Hegemony• What means counter-hegemony, counter-hegemonic?

a) Subordinate groupsb) Confrontation

• War of Movement• War of Position

• A new common sense• How does it work?

Chin, C. B. N., & Mittelman, J. H. (1997). Conceptualizing Resistance to Globalization. New Political Economy, 2(1), 25-37.

La Porta, L. (1987). Gramsci hegemónia-fogalmának aktualitása. Fordulat, Tanulmányok Gramsciról, 143-165.

Hegemony Modeledfigure taken from Dorscher, 1999

Gramscianism

Historic Bloc/Hegemony

• Consent!• Common sense -> ideology• Absolute leadership • Status quo• Maybe: coercion

Counter-Hegemony

• War of position or• War of movement• A new common sense• A new ideology• Alternative culture and media

Picture taken form Edgerton (2011)

Picture taken from Fricke (2015)

Approaches to Neoliberalism• Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan: new right policies• Laissez faire• Is the neoliberalism an economic policy?

• privatization• fiscal austerity• deregulation• free trade• reduced government spending -> greater emphasis on the private sector

• Caused several and crucial aftermaths and consequences: • „retrenchment of the social welfare state, rise of punitive workfare, increased

gentrification of urban areas, privatizations of public functions, and rise of underpaid, precarious wage labor.”

Wacquant, L. (2009). Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 53-54.

Approaches to Neoliberalism #2

• neoliberalism is not only an economic policy, but an ideology• Describe of Dardot and Laval:

• neoliberalism is „firstly and fundamentally a rationality, and as such tends to structure and organize not only the action of rulers, but also the conduct of the ruled.”

• Michel Foucault’s• concept of political reality -> governmentality• biopolitics• panopticism

• Nancy Fraser: neoliberalism is able to integrate every opposite movement into itself

Dardot P., & Laval Ch. (2014). The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society. New York City, NY: Verso Books. (pp.12-20; 199; 305;374)

Fraser, N. (2013, October 13). How feminism became capitalism's handmaiden - and how to reclaim it. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/14/feminism-capitalist-handmaiden-neoliberal

Neoliberalism

• Economic policy• Ideology• A framework for the states; governmentality• Organizes our lives through biopolitics and panopticism• Flexibility

These are possible because the neoliberalism is• Rationality! -> contradiction?

World Order and Neo-Gramscianism

• Multilateral world order• TNCs, NGOs, other civil actors, international institutions• Phenomenon of Globalization

• Gramsci -> present-day conditions• Robert W. Cox, Stephen Gill or Kees Van der Pijl etc.

World Order and Neo-Gramscianism #2

• a mainstream policy• a media influence• dominant culture given by a

neoliberal transnational capitalist class.Historic Bloc consists of:

Financial sector and the political establishment

Cox, R. W. (1981). Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory. Millennium - Journal of International Studies, 10(2), 126-155.

Cox, R. W. (1983). Gramsci, Hegemony and International Relations: An Essay in Method. Millennium - Journal of International Studies, 12(2), 162-175.

World Order and Neo-Gramscianism #3

• neoliberalism is the ideology of a transnational capitalist class

• The role of the civil society: between the hegemonic and counter-hegemonic

• On high level: nation-states in international institutions -> neoliberal actors and great powers

Dardot P., & Laval Ch. (2014). The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society. New York City, NY: Verso Books. (pp.177-178)

Chin, C. B. N., & Mittelman, J. H. (1997). Conceptualizing Resistance to Globalization. New Political Economy, 2(1)

International Institutions: Agendas and Policies

• Intergovernmental Organizations, IGOs• Three different types of IGOs:1. IMF and World Bank2. Regulatory regimes (like World Trade Organization, TTIP)3. European Union

• Agendas of IGOs and the Europe2020 strategy rebuild the neoliberal hegemony and reproduce the unequal distribution and redistribution

International Institutions: Agendas and Policies #2

• Washington Consensus (10):• Redirection of public spending• Tax reform• Trade liberalization• Privatization• Deregulation• Etc.

• Crucial Latin American debt crisis after the falling of dictatorships• Pink tide• Greece: neoliberal austerity and neoliberal conditions from a neoliberal political

centre• Syriza is counter-hegemonic?

Naim, M. (2000). Fads and Fashion in Economic Reforms: Washington Consensus or Washington Confusion? Third World Quarterly, 21(3), 505-528.

Conclusion

• Neoliberal and transnational capitalist class which is a historic bloc• The main ideology is the neoliberalism with a globalized common sense• Through the agendas, policies, strategies of IGOs the Historic Bloc

reproduces the permanent inequality, the failed redistribution, monitores and intervenes into our way of life• This neoliberalism is flexible and makes politics and social movements

uncontrollable• Status quo is important and remains small space for the counter-

hegemonic -> civil society, anti-establishment formations

Q&A

Reference Page1. Chin, C. B. N., & Mittelman, J. H. (1997). Conceptualizing Resistance to Globalization. New

Political Economy, 2(1)2. Cox, R. W. (1981). Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory.

Millennium - Journal of International Studies, 10(2)3. Cox, R. W. (1983). Gramsci, Hegemony and International Relations: An Essay in Method.

Millennium - Journal of International Studies, 12(2)4. Dardot P., & Laval Ch. (2014). The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society. New York City,

NY: Verso Books.5. Fraser, N. (2013, October 13). How feminism became capitalism's handmaiden - and how to

reclaim it. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/14/feminism-capitalist-handmaiden-neoliberal

6. La Porta, L. (1987). Gramsci hegemónia-fogalmának aktualitása. Fordulat, Tanulmányok Gramsciról

7. Naim, M. (2000). Fads and Fashion in Economic Reforms: Washington Consensus or Washington Confusion? Third World Quarterly, 21(3)

8. Wacquant, L. (2009). Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press

Reference PageImages:1. Dorscher, M. D. (Editor). (1999). Hegemony Modeled. [Table], Retrieved from

http://people.uwec.edu/mdorsher/hegemony/online.htm2. Edgerton, D. (2011, March 3). In praise of Luddism. Nature. Retrieved from

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v471/n7336/full/471027a.html3. Fricke, H. (Photographer). (2015). Brennendes Polizeiauto: Linke Blockupy-Teilnehmer

zogen frühmorgens marodierend durch die Straßen. [Photograph], Retrieved from http://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/blockupy/linke-krawalle-in-frankfurt-nur-noch-blinder-hass-13491675.html

Thank you!

hafra.laci@gmail.com