POLI 311 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Paris Agreement, Periphery Countries
12 May 2018
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Lec 7 (Jan 29) - Marxism and GEP
This Week in GEP
• On climate, OECD head embraces environmentalism; bold claims
o 2 degree commitment at the Paris Agreement; not ambitious enough. Industrialised
countries need to be doing much more
o OECD countries need to work together to ban fossil fuel subsidies (e.g. Canada, Norway -
need to stop funding)
o May provide evidence that environmental stewardship has been the primary institution; the
English School
Introducing Marxism
• Challenges established tenets of the realist/neo-liberalist institutions of IR
o Rejects concept of anarchy; IR occurs within a global capitalist system. Capitalism = the
governing, overarching intl system. Global capitalism explains both causes, and existing
solutions for environmental problems
o States aren't the primary actors; classes are. We are missing the point when focusing on
states bc classes transcend national borders/territorial boundaries
o History of IR = History of class conflict b/w the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Society is
prone to class conflict
o Most intl cooperation is about maintaining the position of the wealthy at the expense of the
poor
o Robert Cox (Canadian Marxian theorist): "Theory is always for someone or some purpose"
o Most IR theory seeks to maintain the status quo, Marxian theories are emancipatory; seek
to fundamentally disrupt class relations, challenge entrenched interests of the upper classes
Marxian Theories of IR
• Imperialism, the Highest State of Capitalism (Leninism) - why do we get conflict in the intl system?
Why cant they cooperate?
o Capital seeks ever greater profits outside of domestic borders; by purchasing means of
production (e.g. Factory) and getting a cut of the profits of that factory
o Threshold - when there is nothing left to invest in within a country
o This leads to imperialism and colonialism, as capital seeks new markets for investment;
aggressive moves by countries to set up colonies when the threshold has been met. Only
way to continue to accrue capital
▪ Repercussion for how states are organised in the intl system - a dominant "core"
(wealthy, capitalist states where most money is concentrated) exploits a less-
developed periphery (places where capitalists invest, extract wealth)
▪ Core countries pacify their working class by further exploiting a less-developed
periphery; unrest in the working class
▪ But the system is inherently unstable and will eventually lead to revolution; wealthy
class becomes smaller and smaller as capital becomes increasingly concentrated. As
this happens, the periphery expands; tremendous increases in welfare gap
Dependency Theory (Raul Prebisch, Henrique, Fernando Cardoso, Immanuel Wallerstein)
• Core countries specialise in high-value, high-skill manufactured goods, periphery in low-value raw
materials
• Price of manufactured goods increases faster than raw materials
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Lec 7 (jan 29) - marxism and gep. This week in gep: on climate, oecd head embraces environmentalism; bold claims, 2 degree commitment at the paris agreement; not ambitious enough. Introducing marxism: challenges established tenets of the realist/neo-liberalist institutions of ir, rejects concept of anarchy; ir occurs within a global capitalist system. Global capitalism explains both causes, and existing solutions for environmental problems: states aren"t the primary actors; classes are. We are missing the point when focusing on states bc classes transcend national borders/territorial boundaries: history of ir = history of class conflict b/w the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. As this happens, the periphery expands; tremendous increases in welfare gap. Indo + malaysia account for 85% of global palm oil production. It is presently indo"s top export, followed by coal and petroleum, and other primary resources. Renewed stress on indo"s forest land: oil palm cultivation in indo by hectares, 1980-2013 (faostat 2015); increase from.
