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Production, Power, and World Order: Social Forces in the Making of History
In this seminal study, Robert Cox offers a new approach to the study of power by identifying the connections between production, the state, and world order.
500 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 25, 2019
It is such a shame that this hasn't achieved status of one of those International Relations classics, seeing as it in my opinion provides the most holistic framework for understanding world order and historical change that I've encountered. Not to engage in a heavy polemic against other IR schools (in fact I think most of them do serve some purpose, and should be applied complementarily unless when they contradict in their primary assumptions), but they generally suffer from either being fit for purpose only for a very particular world system and institutions, focuses on a very narrow set of issues/processes, or makes some very generalizing and unrealistic assumptions about the actors concerned. What all of them have in common, though, is that they lack any grounding in sociology. What Robert W. Cox attempts to do is constructing a theory of world order and historical change that firstly, connects the micro and the macro level of human and societal relations, and secondly, fuses the material and ideal and makes the two synergistic.
Cox takes as his starting point the human activity of production, which is the basis of all current and past societies. His premise is that power is shaped by the social relations of production, the hierachies among different types of production relations, how these relations are reproduced and the surplus is distributed/accumulated. The production process is the basis for all systems of power, varying in their complexity and scope, but no one-way causalities are premised here. The state or the world order also puts limits on which modes of production relations are possible, and not to mention ideology, which both shapes and is shaped by the arena of production. Though he doesn't self-identify as a Marxist, Cox does regularily cites the old man, and clearly uses a historical materialist framework for understanding historical progression, meaning that he investigates material and social forces for internal contradictions that build up until the arrangement can no longer sustain itself, and social transformations occur. What is more novel about this book, and admittedly more explicit, is the author's intellectual debt to Antonio Gramsci. Suffice it to say that Cox utilizes the whole Gramscian vocabulary of historic blocs, hegemony, war of movement vs. war of position, organic intellectual, etc.
Though I might have some questions/reservations regarding some of his analytical categories, as well as disagreements with certain aspects of his analysis (like the supposed irrelevancy of most post-colonial states during the Pax Americana) this is undoubtedly the most intellectually stimulating work I've read on the issue of international politics/history. Perhaps not as eye-opening as when I read The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy Of American Empire for the first time, but I'd say the former is definitely more theoretically grounded and in that sense triggers my brain in a special way.
Cox takes as his starting point the human activity of production, which is the basis of all current and past societies. His premise is that power is shaped by the social relations of production, the hierachies among different types of production relations, how these relations are reproduced and the surplus is distributed/accumulated. The production process is the basis for all systems of power, varying in their complexity and scope, but no one-way causalities are premised here. The state or the world order also puts limits on which modes of production relations are possible, and not to mention ideology, which both shapes and is shaped by the arena of production. Though he doesn't self-identify as a Marxist, Cox does regularily cites the old man, and clearly uses a historical materialist framework for understanding historical progression, meaning that he investigates material and social forces for internal contradictions that build up until the arrangement can no longer sustain itself, and social transformations occur. What is more novel about this book, and admittedly more explicit, is the author's intellectual debt to Antonio Gramsci. Suffice it to say that Cox utilizes the whole Gramscian vocabulary of historic blocs, hegemony, war of movement vs. war of position, organic intellectual, etc.
Though I might have some questions/reservations regarding some of his analytical categories, as well as disagreements with certain aspects of his analysis (like the supposed irrelevancy of most post-colonial states during the Pax Americana) this is undoubtedly the most intellectually stimulating work I've read on the issue of international politics/history. Perhaps not as eye-opening as when I read The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy Of American Empire for the first time, but I'd say the former is definitely more theoretically grounded and in that sense triggers my brain in a special way.
March 26, 2018
To tell the truth, I found the book long, arduous and mainly bland. As a history book, it doesn't have much to offer as far as I'm concerned. As an economic theory book, it is really basic. As a critical commentary book, I've read many that are far superior and better. It is hard for me to say it, but I really did not enjoy reading this book. I'm not saying it's bad, but, umm, I don't think that it is that great either.
September 10, 2016
This is a must read for scholars in international relations. It was a required reading that I found surprisingly engaging and insightful.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews