Neo-Gramscian Portal

New Publications Related to Gramsci - by Marcus Green, International Gramsci Society

2012-01-24T23:26:00.000+02:00

Below is a list of recent publications related to Gramsci which is prepared by Marcus Green and originally located on the website of International Gramsci Society.

English

Gramsci in Translation

Gramsci, Antonio. Prison Notebooks: Three Volume Set. Translated by Joseph A. Buttigieg. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780231157551

Articles by Gramsci published in the International Press Correspondence. Introduced by Derek Boothman. International Gramsci Journal No. 3 (March 2011). [pdf]

• The Genoa Conference and Italy, Inprecorr Vol.2, No.28, p.211 (19 April 1922).
• The Mussolini government, Inprecorr Vol. 3, No. 102, p. 824.
• Fascism: Letter from Italy, Inprecorr Vol. 4, No. 1. (3 January1924).
• Italy and Yugoslavia, Inprecorr Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 25-26. (24 January 1924).
• Election Results in Italy, Inprecorr Vol. 4, No. 25, p. 231.
• The situation in the Communist party of Italy, Inprecorr Vol. 5, No. 60, pp. 835-6.

Articles & Books Related to Gramsci

Bruff, Ian. “What about the Elephant in the Room? Varieties of Capitalism, Varieties in Capitalism”. New Political Economy, vol. 16, no. 4 (2011): 481-500. Link.

Abstract: Conceived as considerably broader than simply the Varieties of Capitalism framework, I argue that the varieties of capitalism literature is premised upon an institutional reductionism which necessitates the search for a more holistic approach. In brief, if we are to explain convincingly the evolution of national political economies, then we must acknowledge that varieties of capitalism are also varieties in capitalism. In particular, Antonio Gramsci's writings on common sense enable us to focus on the role of institutions as a historical force without abandoning the system of production that they are part of. I then provide an alternative explanation, compared to the varieties of capitalism literature, of the evolution of the Dutch and German political economies in order to demonstrate the advantages of the framework I develop.

Bruff, Ian. “Overcoming the State/Market Dichotomy”, in Stuart Shields, Ian Bruff & Huw Macartney (eds), Critical International Political Economy: Dialogue, Debate and Dissensus (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011): 80-98. ISBN: 9780230280304.

Crehan, Kate. “Gramsci's Concept of Common Sense: A Useful Concept for Anthropologists?” Journal of Modern Italian Studies, vol. 16, no. 2 (2011): 273-87. Special Issue: Gramsci Revisited. Essays in Memory of John M. Cammett. [Link].

Abstract: The article begins with a brief look at the anthropological notion of culture and some of its ghosts, contrasting this with Gramsci's very different approach. It goes on to look in detail at Gramsci's concept of ‘common sense’, arguing that common sense as theorized by Gramsci provides anthropologists (whose discipline is so concerned with the quotidian) and others, with a useful theoretical tool with which to map everyday life. Gramsci's understanding of common sense encompasses its givenness – how it is both constitutive of our subjectivity and confronts us as an external reality – but also stresses its contradictions, fluidity and potential for change. To help clarify the specific character of the Gramscian notion of common sense, the article compares it with another concept that has been widely embraced within anthropology and elsewhere: Pierre Bourdieu's notion of habitus – a notion, I argue, that remains in many ways tethered to its anthropological origins.

Dainotto, Roberto. “Gramsci's Bibliographies.” Journal of Modern Italian Studies, vol. 16, no. 2 (2011): 211-24. Special Issue: Gramsci Revisited. Essays in Memory of John M. Cammett. [Link].

Abstract: As homage to John Cammett's bibliographical works, the essay looks at the importance, strategic uses and critical relevance of bibliographies in the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. In the overcoming of vulgar determinism that Gramsci called ‘philosophy of praxis’, bibliographies became – more than mere superstructural effects – social institutions through which a critical war of position could be waged against both Gentile's fascist idealism and against Croce's liberal one.

Fontana, Benedetto. “Politics and History in Gramsci.” Journal of Modern Italian Studies, vol. 16, no. 2 (2011): 225-38. Special Issue: Gramsci Revisited. Essays in Memory of John M. Cammett. [Link].

Abstract: The work of historian John Cammett underlines the intimate relation that Gramsci establishes among thought, history and politics. Gramsci's political thought is an extended discourse on the relation between party and class, and on the formation of hegemonic and subaltern forms of consciousness. Reading Cammett highlights Gramsci's passion for a politics that would renovate and remake the world. Both Gramsci and Cammett looked within the existing society for the trace elements from which would emerge a new politics to construct a new order and a new historical reality.

Gill, Stephen, ed. Global Crises and the Crisis of Global Leadership. Cambridge University Press, 2011. ISBN 9781107674967.

Table of Contents

Part I. Concepts of Global Leadership and Dominant Strategies:

Leaders and led in an era of global crises. Stephen Gill
Leadership, neoliberal governance and global economic crisis: a Gramscian analysis. Nicola Short
Private transnational governance and the crisis of global leadership. A. Claire Cutler

Part II. Changing Material Conditions of Existence and Global Leadership – Energy, Climate Change and Water

The crisis of petro-market civilization – the past as prologue? Tim Di Muzio
Global climate change, human security, and the future of democracy. Richard A. Falk
The emerging global freshwater crisis and the privatization of global leadership. Hilal Elver

Part III. Global Leadership Ethics, Crises and Subaltern Forces:

Global leadership, ethics and global health – the search for new paradigms. Solomon R. Benatar
Global leadership and the Islamic world – crisis, contention and challenge. Mustapha Kamal Pasha
Public and insurgent reason – adjudicatory leadership in a hyper-globalizing world. Upendra Baxi

Part IV. Prospects for Alternative Forms of Global Leadership:

Global democratization without hierarchy or leadership? The world social forum in the capitalist world. Teivo Teivainen
After neoliberalism – left versus right projects of leadership in the global crisis. Ingar Solty
Crises, social forces and the future of global governance – implications for progressive strategy. Adam Harmes
Organic crisis, global leadership and progressive alternatives. Stephen Gill.

Glassman, Jim. “Cracking Hegemony in Thailand: Gramsci, Bourdieu and the Dialectics of Rebellion.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 41.1 (2011) : 25-46. [Link].

Gramsci's notion of “hegemony,” like Bourdieu's concept of “habitus,” seems designed to explain accommodation to existing social structures, rather than resistance. In this paper, however, I draw from the Prison Notebooks some arguments that contribute to a Gramscian understanding of how hegemony may break apart under the weight of the same uneven development processes central to hegemony. Drawing also from Bourdieu, I argue that the conceptions of “hegemony” and “habitus” inscribe the possibility of resistance within the embodied experience of accommodation to class rule. I then elaborate a dialectical, Gramscian-Bourdieusian account of the Red Shirt movement in Thailand, showing that the seeds for the destruction of royalist hegemony in Thailand have been sown in the embodied processes of accommodation to ruling class hegemony. The breadth and depth of challenges to this hegemony, moreover, are evident not only from the activities of the Red Shirt movement and regional discontent in Northern and Northeast Thailand but from the resistance of working class women to attempts to police their sexuality and limit their consumerism. The refusal of Thai elites to accept the breadth and depth of Thailand's dispositional transformation has legitimised – in their eyes – the brutal crackdown on Red Shirt protestors that resulted in the April-May 2010 massacres. Yet repression can only kill off political leaders and specific parties; it will not likely derail the growing resentment of ordinary Thais over elitist class rule.

Green, Marcus E., ed. Rethinking Gramsci. New York: Routledge, 2011. [Link].

Table of Contents

Marcus E. Green, Introduction: Rethinking Marxism and Rethinking Gramsci

I. Culture and Criticism

Stuart Hall. Race, Culture, and Communications: Looking Backward and Forward at Cultural Studies
Paul Bové. Dante, Gramsci and Cultural Criticism
Daniel O'Connell. Bloom and Babbitt: A Gramscian View
Marcia Landy. Socialist Education Today: Pessimism or optimism of the intellect?

II. Hegemony, Subalternity, Common Sense

Derek Boothman. The Sources for Gramsci's Concept of Hegemony
Marcus E. Green. Gramsci Cannot Speak: Presentations and Interpretations of Gramsci's Concept of the Subaltern
Cosimo Zene. Self-consciousness of the Dalits as 'subalterns:' Reflections on Gramsci in South Asia
Evan Watkins. Gramscian Politics and Capitalist Common Sense
Frank R. Annunziato. Gramsci's theory of trade unionism
Nelson Moe. Production and Its Others, Gramsci's 'Sexual Question'
Adam David Morton. Social Forces in the Struggle over Hegemony: Neo-Gramscian Perspectives in International Political Economy
Richard Howson. From Ethico-Political Hegemony to Post-Marxism

III. Political Philosophy

Richard D. Wolff. Gramsci, Marxism and Philosophy
Carlos Nelson Coutinho. General Will and Democracy in Rousseau, Hegel, and Gramsci
Wolfgang Fritz Haug. From Marx to Gramsci, from Gramsci to Marx: Historical Materialism and the Philosophy of Praxis
Steven R. Mansfield. Gramsci and the Dialectic
Esteve Morera. Gramsci's Critical Modernity

IV. On Gramsci's Prison Notebooks

David F. Ruccio. Unfinished Business: Gramsci's Prison Notebooks
Joseph W. Childers. Of Prison Notebooks and the Restoration of an Archive
Peter Ives. The Mammoth Task of Translating Gramsci
William V. Spanos. Cuvier's Little Bone: Joseph Buttigieg's English Edition of Antonio Gramsci's Prison Notebooks
Joseph A. Buttigieg. The Prison Notebooks: Antonio Gramsci's Work in Progress

Green, Marcus E. “Rethinking the subaltern and the question of censorship in Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks.” Postcolonial Studies 14.4 (2011): 387-404. [Link]

Abstract: This article provides a new reading of Gramsci's concept of subaltern social groups. Through a philological analysis of the Prison Notebooks, the article puts into question the widespread (mis)interpretation in subaltern studies and postcolonial literature that Gramsci developed the phrase ‘subaltern social groups’ as code for the word ‘proletariat’ in his Prison Notebooks in order to deceive prison censors. The article first demonstrates how the diffusion of the ‘subaltern censorship thesis’ has limited current interpretations of Gramsci's concept of the subaltern to strictly class terms. Then, through an exegesis of Notebook 25, the article demonstrates that there is no textual evidence to support the censorship thesis. Finally, through an examination of several notes in Notebook 25, the article provides an extrapolation of Gramsci's concept of subalternity. This reveals that Gramsci's concept of the subaltern is not limited to class relations and that subalternity in the Gramscian sense encompasses an intersectionality of race, class, gender, and religion. In contrast to current literature, this article shows that Gramsci's concept of the subaltern is more complex than often recognized and that his analysis of subalternity relates to the function of intellectuals, constructions of identity and otherness, historiography, representation, the national popular, coloniality, and political organization.

Guha, Ranajit. “Gramsci in India: Homage to a Teacher.” Journal of Modern Italian Studies, vol. 16, no. 2 (2011): 288-95. Special Issue: Gramsci Revisited. Essays in Memory of John M. Cammett. [Link].

Abstract: In this paper (first delivered at the Gramsci Foundation in Rome in 2007), the distinguished Indian historian Ranajit Guha pays homage to the influence of Gramsci's writings in India and in particular of the development of Subaltern Studies. His paper traces the impact of Gramsci's ideas – in particular the notion of hegemony – on those writing about South Asian history since the early 1960s, and the ways in which they made possible a fuller understanding of how the dichotomies between its elite and subaltern streams limited the ability of the leaders of the Indian nationalist movement to mobilize its popular base.

Krätke, Michael R.. “Antonio Gramsci’s Contribution to a Critical Economics.” Historical Materialism 19.3 (2011): 63-105.

Abstract: According to conventional wisdom, Antonio Gramsci is a political philosopher lacking in, and who avoids, a serious interest in political economy. That is a serious misrepresentation of Gramsci's works and thought. Equally wrong is the widespread view that anything Gramsci had to say about political economy is to be found in his scattered notes on `Americanism and Fordism'. On the contrary, a careful rereading of Gramsci's Prison Notebooks shows that Marx's great and unfinished project of the critique of political economy plays a crucial rôle for Gramsci's efforts to come to grips with the basics of a critical social science that could live up to the aspirations of a `scientific socialism'. As Gramsci was fully aware of the everyday battles of ideas in capitalist societies to be fought about the notions and tenets of popular or vulgar political economy, he did the best he could in order to understand and clarify the bases of a `critical' and `scientific' political economy. A political economy that was and still is urgently needed in order to fight the strongest of the strongholds of bourgeois hegemony - the ideas of vulgar economics in everybody's heads.

McNally, Mark. “Revisiting the Gramsci-Bukharin Relationship: Neglected Symmetries.” History of European Ideas 37.3 (2011): 365-375. Link.

Abstract: In this article I revisit the ideas of Antonio Gramsci and Nikolai Bukharin from a contextual perspective to argue for a revision in the way current scholarship on Gramsci interprets his thought as fundamentally at odds with that of Bukharin. I show in particular that if we resist the temptation to reduce Bukharin to the level of his 1921 book, Historical Materialism, and concentrate instead on his more sophisticated NEP writings of the mid-1920s a series of symmetries in the advanced thought of these two key thinkers of early 20th century Marxism emerges that have been poorly recognised in the literature on Gramsci to date.

Morera, Esteve. Gramsci’s Historicism: A Realist Interpretation. Routledge, 2011. (Routledge Revivals)

Abstract: First published in 1990, this book is a comprehensive study of Gramsci's Quaderni, and gives the reader a penetrating account of the structure of Gramsci's thought. The author draw on many materials and sources, making accesible to the English-speaking reader a wide range of texts otherwise only available in Italian, French, Spanish, and Catalan. His book sheds light on Gramsci's basic philosophical and methodological principles, and will be useful as an introduction to Gramsci for students of political science, sociology, social science, history, and philosophy, as well as to scholars in the field.

Morera, Esteve. “Antonio Gramsci: Social Theory - Hegemony, Civil Society,” in Avenel Companion to Modern Social Theorists. Edited by Pradip Basu. Memari (West Bengal): Avenel Press, 2011.

Morton, Adam. Revolution and State in Modern Mexico: The Political Economy of Uneven Development. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2011. [Link].

Abstract: This groundbreaking study develops a new approach to understanding the formation of the post-revolutionary state in Mexico. In a shift away from dominant interpretations, Adam Morton considers the construction of the revolution and the modern Mexican state through a fresh analysis of the Mexican Revolution, the era of import substitution industrialization, and neoliberalism. Throughout, the author makes interdisciplinary links among geography, political economy, postcolonialism, and Latin American studies in order to provide a new framework for analyzing the development of state power in Mexico. He also explores key processes in the contestation of the modern state, specifically through studies of the role of intellectuals, democratization and democratic transition, and spaces of resistance. As Morton argues, all these themes can only be fully understood through the lens of uneven development in Latin America.

Nieto-Galan, Agustí. “Antonio Gramsci Revisited: Historians of Science, Intellectuals, and the Struggle for Hegemony.” History of Science 49.4 (2011): 453–478.

Paggi, Leonardo. “Dear John, Where Is the World We Lost?” Journal of Modern Italian Studies, vol. 16, no. 2 (2011): 170-78. Special Issue: Gramsci Revisited. Essays in Memory of John M. Cammett. [Link].

Abstract: These personal memories and recollections seek to relocate John Cammett's contribution in the history of Italian and American politics in the 1960s. Cammett's deep involvement in the thought and human personality of Gramsci was closely intertwined with his fascination for the Italian communist left, which since the Resistance against Nazi-fascism had demonstrated its capacity to mobilize on a very wide scale the participation of the popular masses in the country's political life. Gramsci was for him a living cultural symbol and image of a successfully political movement whose counter-tar had been totally defeated, on the contrary, in the history of the United States. But Cammett's book on Gramsci brought an important chapter of Italian culture to the attention of the American Left at a moment when it was seeking new ideas and identities to challenge a political system weakened and undermined by the ideological constrains of the 1950s and its commitment to a very unpopular war.

Pearmain, Andrew. The Politics of New Labour: A Gramscian Analysis. London: Lawrence & Wishart Ltd, 2011. [Link].

Contents
Introduction: Gramsci, History and New Labour
Part I Gramsci and his Legacy
1. First Uses of Gramsci
2. Optimism of the Seventies, Pessimism of the Eighties
3. Iron in our souls: the hegemony of Thatcherism
4. The Abuses of Gramsci: 'Post-Marxism', Postmodernism and Cultural Studies
5. The 'Euro-communist' Roots of New Labour: Marxism Today
6. The 'Euro-communist' roots of New Labour: 'New Times'
Part II A Critique of New Labour
7. The Makings of New Labour
8. Neil Kinnock and the Labour Party Policy Review
9. Labour, Modernity and 'Modernisation'
10. What New Labour Took from the Left
11. What New Labour Left Out: the 'Gramscian' Left

Perkins, Harold A. “Gramsci in Green: Neoliberal Hegemony Through Urban Forestry and the Potential for a Political Ecology of Praxis.” Geoforum, 2011 (forthcoming) [Link].

Righi, Andrea. Biopolitics and Social Change in Italy: From Gramsci to Pasolini to Negri. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. ISBN: 9780230115033.

Abstract: The study of how life can be controlled, supported, and manipulated has become the most urgent scientific and political task of our society. Each discipline approaches this biopolitical dimension with its tools and agenda; however they ignore how labor over time has materially produced crucial transformations in the manipulation of life. By placing the social dimension of labor at the base of the discourse of life, this book engages with the work of key intellectual figures including Gramsci, Pasolini, the neo-feminist militants of Lotta Femminista, Negri, and Virno, and reconstructs a critical genealogy of the notion of biopolitics from the point of view of twentieth and twenty-first century Italy.

Roberts, David D. “Reconsidering Gramsci's Interpretation of Fascism.” Journal of Modern Italian Studies, vol. 16, no. 2 (2011): 239-55. Special Issue: Gramsci Revisited. Essays in Memory of John M. Cammett. [Link].

Abstract: The increasingly accepted notion that fascism was not merely reactionary but revolutionary, competing with Marxism, invites reassessment of Gramsci's interpretation of fascism. With his emphasis on the relative autonomy of political and cultural factors, Gramsci might have recognized the scope for a competing revolution, even if only the better to counter it. But though his initial analysis of the Italian revolutionary situation was almost proto-fascist in certain respects, he dismissed fascist claims to constitute an alternative revolution, and, partly as a result, he consistently underestimated fascism prior to 1926. After his imprisonment, however, he began seeking to devise the categories necessary to understand fascism's unanticipated triumph. Although he continued to sidestep aspects of the fascist challenge, his innovative way of analyzing fascism as a form of Caesarism, engaged in a war of attrition, enabled him to illuminate the peculiar combination of accomplishment, limitation and failure that characterized the fascist regime.

Rosengarten, Frank. “John Cammett's Writings on Antonio Gramsci and the Pci.” Journal of Modern Italian Studies, vol. 16, no. 2 (2011): 195-210. Special Issue: Gramsci Revisited. Essays in Memory of John M. Cammett. [Link].

Abstract: This essay on John Cammett's contributions to Gramsci studies is composed of four parts. Part 1 deals with the intriguing interplay in Cammett's writings between Old Left loyalties and New Left challenges to it. Part 2 focuses on his work as a bibliographer and editor, the most important aspect of which is his monumental Bibliografia gramsciana, comprising three volumes published in 1991, 1995 and 2001. Part 3 consists of some remarks on Cammett's career as a professor and academic administrator. Part 4 is a brief discussion of the book for which he is most widely known, his 1967 study Antonio Gramsci and the Origins of Italian Communism.

Slaughter, Jane. “Gramsci's Place in Women's History.” Journal of Modern Italian Studies, vol. 16, no. 2 (2011): 256-72. Special Issue: Gramsci Revisited. Essays in Memory of John M. Cammett. [Link].

Abstract: This paper traces the connections between Antonio Gramsci's ideas and developments in Western gender and women's history. The revival of women's history in the West in the 1970s brought the discovery or reacquaintance with Gramsci's writings, and this essay looks at examples of recent scholarship in gender and women's history that employs Gramscian theory. Equally important will be a consideration of Gramsci himself as an actor on the stage of women's history in the years before World War II. The last third of the paper places Gramsci in Italian family life, Communist Party politics and men's and women's prison experiences in the first half of the twentieth century. This discussion benefits from the growth of secondary literature on gender and women's history in Italy for this era, and rests on the many primary accounts left by women who lived and worked with Gramsci.

Srivastava, Neelam, and Baidik Bhattacharya, eds. The Postcolonial Gramsci. Routledge, 2011.ISBN 9780415874816.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Postcolonial Gramsci. Neelam Srivastava and Baidik Bhattacharya

I. Gramsci and Postcolonial Studies

Il Gramsci meridionale. Robert JC Young
Provincializing the Italian Reading of Gramsci. Paolo Capuzzo and Sandro Mezzadra
The Travels of the Organic Intellectual: The Black Colonized Intellectual in George Padmore and Frantz Fanon. Neelam Srivastava
The Secular Alliance: Gramsci, Said and the Postcolonial Question. Baidik Bhattacharya

II. Gramsci and the Global Present

The 'Unseen Order': Religion, Secularism and Hegemony. Iain Chambers
Gramsci in the Twenty-first Century. Partha Chatterjee
Entering the World from an Oblique Angle: On Jia Zhangke as an Organic Intellectual. Pheng Cheah
Questioning Intellectuals: Reading Caste with Gramsci in Two Indian Literary Texts. Rajeswari Sunder Rajan
Mariátegui and Gramsci in 'Latin' América: Between Revolution and Decoloniality. Walter D. Mignolo

III. Epilogue
Interview with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

Vacca, Giuseppe. “Gramsci Studies since 1989.” Journal of Modern Italian Studies, vol. 16, no. 2 (2011): 179-94. Special Issue: Gramsci Revisited. Essays in Memory of John M. Cammett. [Link].

Abstract: John Cammett's collaboration with the Gramsci Institute Foundation began in the spring of 1989. John had prepared an international biography of studies on Gramsci's life and writings, which, with help from some young researchers at the Foundation, he presented during the Institute's conference on ‘Gramsci in the World’ (Formia, October 1989) that resulted in the birth of the International Gramsci Society. The bibliography was first published in 1991 in the first volume of the Annali of the Gramsci Institute, and in revised and updated form again in 1993. Subsequently, it was digitized and, under John's direction, regularly updated by Francesco Giasi and Luisa Righi: when it went online in 2005 it became the key instrument for internationalizing Gramsci studies. After 1989, the Institute had been able to resume its research in the Komintern archives and was receiving the flow of new documents from the private papers of the Gramsci-Schucht family in Moscow which gave rise to a new set of studies on Gramsci's political and family life between 1926 and 1937.

Zene, Cosimo. “Self-Consciousness of the Dalits as ‘Subalterns’: Reflections on Gramsci in South Asia.” Rethinking Marxism 23.1 (2011): 83-99. [Link].

In this article I reflect on Gramsci's category of the “subaltern,” taking into consideration recent contributions to this topic, particularly those offered by Joseph Buttigieg, Giorgio Baratta, and Marcus Green. The latter, besides presenting an eloquent critique of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's article “Can the Subaltern Speak?” allows me to return to Gramscian sources so as to carry out a radicalization of Gramsci's positions with reference to the experience of “Untouchables”/Dalits in South Asia. There is little doubt that inquiry into the “subaltern question” in India today cannot ignore the “Dalit question.” The case study referring to the Rishi-Dalits of Bangladesh accentuates still further the precarious position of these groups as subalterns, but also their aspiration to overcome subalternity.

German

Opratko, Benjamin, and Oliver Prausmüller, eds. Gramsci global: Neogramscianische Perspektiven in der Internationalen Politischen Ökonomie. Argument Verlag, 2011. ISBN: 9783867543101.

For the first time in German, this volume brings together a systematic analysis of "neo-Gramsian perspectives" of international political economy. The current crisis of global capitalism raises fundamental questions that are examined in th discipline of IPE. How can we understand the global implementation of the neoliberal project? What is the relationship between state, civil society and the economy that characterizes neoliberal capitalism? What are the contradictions which allow social movements and organic intellectuals to intervene? Contributions by Hans-Jürgen Bieling, Robert W. Cox, Stephen Gill, Catherine & Katherina Hajek Kinzel, Laura Horn, Branwen Gruffydd Jones, Adam David Morton, Nicola Sekler & Ulrich Brand, Ngai-Ling Sum, Benjamin Oliver & Opratko Prausmüller, Bernd Röttger and Jens Winter.

Japanese

La Città Futura, Tokyo Gramsci Society Bulletin No. 52 (November 2011)

Notebook 19 Italian Risorgimento §14-23, translated by Prison Notebooks Research Group
The argument against the discontinuity and the "witnes" of Pertini in reply to the criticisms of Mr. Matsuda, by Tomihisa Suzuki
For the research of the Subaltern Notebook, by Hiroshi Matsuda
Social movements and the role of the party in the thought of Gramsci and today, by Guido Liguori
Book review of Junji Nishikado, The Mobile Theory of the Thought of Lukacs, by Ken Yamane
Oppressors and the Oppressed by A. Gramsci at the age of 19
Factory council movments in Turin and G. Sorel, Editorial published in l'Ordine nuovo, 11 Oct 1919.

La Città Futura, Tokyo Gramsci Society Bulletin No. 51 (August 2011)

Notebook 19 Italian Risorgimento §6-12, translated by Prison Notebooks Research Group
Sakubei Yamamoto and his collection depicting the conditions of coal mines approved for UNESCO's Memory of the World heritage registration, by Nobuaki Kurosawa
Book reviews:
· Antonio Labriola, Socialism and Philosophy, by Tadashi Suzuki
· Antonio Gramsci, On Subalterns, Volume VII of Collected Works, translated annotated by Hiroshi Matsuda, by Hiromi Fujioka
· Nabuaki Jurosawa, On life long learning: Conceptions of Civil society and Pedagogy Today, by Shigeki Maruyama
· Tomihisa Suzuki, A. Gramsci: Prison Notebooks and the formation of a critical sociology, by Shoichi Takaya

La Città Futura, Tokyo Gramsci Society Bulletin No. 50 (April 2011)

Notebook 19 Italian Risorgimento §5, translated by Prison Notebooks Research Group
Social enterprise movement animating civil society, by Hisao Kozuka
Review of Hiroyuki Aoyagi, Marx and his educational thought, by Nobuaki Kurosawa
Review of Tomihisa Suzuki, A research on Gramsci's Prison Notebooks, by Takemi Miyashita
In commemoration of 120 years of his birth: The thought of A. Gramsci and our molecular revolution, by Eleonora Forenza, translated by Koichi Ohara

Portuguese

Bianchi, Alvaro ; ALIAGA, Luciana . Força e consenso como fundamentos do Estado: Pareto e Gramsci. Revista Brasileira de Ciência Política, Niterói, n. 3, p. 17-36, 2011.

Bianchi, Alvaro. Antonio Gramsci e a ciência política italiana. In Giovanni Semeraro, Marcos Marques de Oliveira, Percival Tavares da Silva, Sônia Nogueira Leitão (orgs.). Gramsci e os movimentos populares. Niterói: UFF, 2011, v. , p. 189-200.

Countinho, Carlos Nelson. De Rousseau a Gramsci: ensaios de teoria política. Boitempo, 2011. ISBN: 978-85-7559-183-3

Nesta nova empreitada intelectual, o autor aponta as potencialidades transformadoras e os dilemas de fenômenos políticos, como a democracia, pelo pensamento de Rousseau, Hegel, Marx e Gramsci, além de aprofundar o compromisso entre reflexão e ação que caracteriza a sua obra. Para ele, é preciso confrontar e superar a ideia de democracia como um simples jogo competitivo pelo poder político.

Martins, Marcos Francisco. Gramsci, os intelectuais e suas funções científico-filosófica, educativo-cultural e política. Pro-Posições, v. 22, n. 3, p. 131-148, 2011.

Passos, Rodrigo Duarte Fernandes dos . Gramsci e seu "infinito laboratório". Informe Econômico (UFPI), v. 12, p. 49-51, 2011.

Ramos, Leonardo. “Notas sobre os processos de resistência ao sistema G7/8.” Conjuntura Internacional, vol. 8, no. 7 (2011): 12-20. [Link].

Abstract: Buscando contribuir para o resgate do pensamento gramsciano no campo da Economia Política Global, o presente artigo apresenta uma análise crítica dos processos de resistência ao sistema G7/8 em um contexto de globalização da resistência. Neste processo, buscar-se-á fazer algumas considerações críticas acerca das potencialidades e limites emancipatórios de tais movimentos de protesto e resistência ao sistema G7/8.

Semeraro, Giovanni; OLIVEIRA, Marcos Marques de; SILVA, Percival Tavares da, Leitão, Sônia Nogueira (orgs.). Gramsci e os movimentos populares. Niterói: UFF, 2011.

Simionatto, Ivete. “Marxismo gramsciano e Serviço Social: interlocuções mais que necessárias.” Revista Em Pauta, n.26. Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro-UERJ, Rio de Janeiro (2011): 17-34.

Further Clarifications about the Last Entry (Was Gramsci a Marxist?)

2011-12-02T23:18:00.001+02:00

After the last entry, I received some criticisms and questions via facebook. Therefore, I think, further clarifications would be useful for all of us.

Following the question, Was Gramsci a Marxist?, Ibrahim Efe asked whether or not Marx himself was a Marxist. As far as I know, Marx is believed to have said that "if anything is certain, it is that I myself am not a Marxist." However, perhaps my formulation of the question was not very correct. Actually, what I was trying to ask was whether or not Gramsci was successful in overcoming the liberal-idealist philosophy of Benedetto Croce - the idealist philosopher who had a significant influence on Gramsci's early thinking, that is, before he came into contact with Marxism. I was interested in that question because to a certain extent, I think, this is a common problem for many thinkers/intellectuals/philosophers.

Then Alphan joined the discussion and said: "To utilise Cox's words: the pertinent question is not: Is Gramsci a marxist, rather it is: do the inferences which he has drawn from Marx help towards understanding the historical phenomenon that was the very object of his inquiry. Surely he differed from the historical economists and had a tendency towards the historical materialist elements in Marx's work."

Then I answered as follows: "Yes, but to what extent was it the inferences he has drawn from Croce, or to what extent from Marx help towards understanding the historical phenomenon that was the very object of his inquiry? Sometimes, we think that we are utilizing the ideas, concepts of a certain philosopher, a certain philosophical system, and criticizing others, but rarely do we realize that we actually in a way reproduce the philosophical system or the philosopher we criticize. In some ways, I know that perhaps it is not a very important question because in the final analysis you're right. Probably what matters more is whether or not it helps us toward understanding (and maybe also changing) the social/political phenomena that is the object of our inquiry. But also, sometimes the boundaries or the border lines between different theories, different philosophers and philosophical systems get blurred so considerably, it even becomes meaningless to continue speaking with the old concepts, such as marxist, idealist, materialist, etc. I think I saw this problem in Carl Schmitt's critique of liberal democracy as well. When you read Carl Schmitt's criticisms, and then see how he tries to differentiate his approach, you see that he cannot really succeed in that; he cannot escape liberal democracy. Also, like Jürgen Habermas continues to call himself a Marxist. Zizek calls himself a Marxist as well. But then, what is the limit of Marxism? Can you deny everything, change or ignore many essential core elements of Marxism, and still consider yourself a marxist? I mean, perhaps you still can, but what is the purpose anyway? Why would you bother about that?"

And I added: "Furthermore, I think it's also about being fair to the philosophers whom we criticize. I think it's not just/fair that we give a lot of credits to Marx in influencing Gramsci's thought, but not Croce."

Alphan: "I dont kow Feyzullah. Gramsci is a very complex personality as far as I understood. Of course he had ties with Croce, for example the concept of passive revolution is directly taken from his writings. I guess Gramsci was busy in moving beyond Marxist orthodoxy by opening new paths. And I think in this way he also tried to integrate Croce to his writings. I said he is a complex human being, for example he had Sorel in mind whilst writing about the "historic bloc", but Sorel only touches the topic of "social myths" that move history like the trade union activism or the general strike."

"Furthermore, if my memory is not misleading me, Gramsci also knew well Croce's interest in Vico and I even remmember that Pareto helped Gramsci while he was in prison by sending money. So at the final analysis I agree with you that in understanding and explaining the development of a philosophers thought we should try to 'phantasise' as Vico puts his life and the influences which had an impact on his writings. In this respect, i do think that Croce had a profound impact on his personal and philosophical development and singling out Marx as the only "mentor" is a misleading idea."

Was Gramsci a Marxist?

2011-11-27T14:08:00.001+02:00

At first look, it sounds like an awkward question. First time I started to be bothered by that question was when I read a short introductory article on Gramsci's thought written by John Hoffman. (Hoffman, John, "Antonio Gramsci: The Prison Notebooks", in The Political Classics: Green to Dworkin, (ed.) Murray Forsyth and Maurice Keens-Soper, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 58-77)

Hoffman tries to identify a central dilemmatic problem in Gramsci's thought. He argues that "as a committed Marxist, he (Gramsci) identified with the vision of an emancipated society which is not only classless, but stateless as well. At the same time his political allegiances meant that he embraced authoritarian arguments for revolution, class war, and party organization. The question inevitably arises: how was a stateless end to be realized through statist means?" (p.58)

According to Hoffman, Gramsci's attempt to overcome this dilemmatic situation through incorporating the ethical-political concepts of the Italian humanist Benedetto Croce into his Marxist framework had two significant consequences for Gramsci's thought and his version of Marxism. Hoffman argues that on one hand, the liberal-idealist philosophical background derived, intentionally or unintentionally, from Croce "made it possible to raise questions of morality, culture, and freedom which he believed that a fatalistic form of Marxism had suppressed." (p. 58) But at the same time, Hoffman thinks, "this attempt at a synthesis was unsuccessful and undermined a coherent argument for emancipation, since the abstract idealism of Croce coexists uneasily in Gramsci's work with authoritarian arguments for class war, revolution, and the proletarian state." (p. 59)

In my view, mainly two types of individuals play important roles in a scholar's intellectual/philosophical development. On one hand, a scholar feels himself/herself close to, or associated with, the ideas, thoughts, theories and methodology of a certain philosopher. He/she gets influenced by these ideas and tries to understand the world around him/her through these ideas. The role of French socialists for Karl Marx, and the role of Marx for Antonio Gramsci can be mentioned as two examples of this case. One the other hand, the scholar may find the ideas and thoughts of a certain philosopher problematic or even disturbing, and he/she may choose to deal with these disturbing points to correct them, to improve them, or to refute them. In that regard, the role of G.W.F Hegel for Marx, and the role of Benedetto Croce for Gramsci can be good examples. It is through a philosophical converstaion or a struggle with the philosophers of the second types which I think is what actually helps a scholar to develop his/her own ideas and come up with new theories or philosophical systems.

But then was Gramsci successful in overcoming an early philosophical influence on his thought, that is the influence of the idealist Italian thinker Croce, and develop a new philosophical system? Hoffman argues that he was not. "A loyalty to Marxism saddled Gramsci with authoritarian concepts that he sought to dilute with Crocean idealism. This explains why his work was received with particular enthusiasm by Eurocommunists who sought to pursue a liberal politics within a Marxist framework. If, then, Gramsci's Marxism is tantalizing, it is also incoherent, for he was ultimately unable to develop the concepts necessary for promoting a self-governing world in place of the hierarchical and repressive institutions of the state." (p. 75-76)

What do you think?

New Book: Global Crises and the Crisis of Global Leadership, Edited by: Stephen Gill

2011-10-31T09:41:00.001+02:00

Global Crises and the Crisis of Global Leadership

Edited by: Stephen Gill, York University, Toronto

• Paperback

• ISBN: 9781107674967

• Publication date: October 2011

• 320 pages

• £18.99

More information & ordering:

http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item6532949/?site_locale=en_GB#

Book Description

This groundbreaking collection on global leadership features innovative and critical perspectives by scholars from international relations, political economy, medicine, law and philosophy, from North and South. The book's novel theorization of global leadership is situated historically within the classics of modern political theory and sociology, relating it to the crisis of global capitalism today. Contributors reflect on the multiple political, economic, social, ecological and ethical crises that constitute our current global predicament. The book suggests that there is an overarching condition of global organic crisis, which shapes the political and organizational responses of the dominant global leadership and of various subaltern forces. Contributors argue that to meaningfully address the challenges of the global crisis will require far more effective, inclusive and legitimate forms of global leadership and global governance than have characterized the neoliberal era.

Table of Contents

Part I. Concepts of Global Leadership and Dominant Strategies:

1. Leaders and led in an era of global crises Stephen Gill
2. Leadership, neoliberal governance and global economic crisis: a Gramscian analysis Nicola Short
3. Private transnational governance and the crisis of global leadership A. Claire Cutler

Part II. Changing Material Conditions of Existence and Global Leadership – Energy, Climate Change and Water:

4. The crisis of petro-market civilization – the past as prologue? Tim Di Muzio
5. Global climate change, human security, and the future of democracy Richard A. Falk
6. The emerging global freshwater crisis and the privatization of global leadership Hilal Elver

Part III. Global Leadership Ethics, Crises and Subaltern Forces:

7. Global leadership, ethics and global health – the search for new paradigms Solomon R. Benatar
8. Global leadership and the Islamic world – crisis, contention and challenge Mustapha Kamal Pasha
9. Public and insurgent reason – adjudicatory leadership in a hyper-globalizing world Upendra Baxi

Part IV. Prospects for Alternative Forms of Global Leadership:

10. Global democratization without hierarchy or leadership? The world social forum in the capitalist world Teivo Teivainen
11. After neoliberalism – left versus right projects of leadership in the global crisis Ingar Solty
12. Crises, social forces and the future of global governance – implications for progressive strategy Adam Harmes
13. Organic crisis, global leadership and progressive alternatives Stephen Gill.

Reviews

'This book provides an insightful Gramscian analysis of the forms of privately-based expert leadership that characterizes the current global order. The authors explore the weak material foundation of this leadership - made evident by climate change, water shortages, and the end of cheap oil - and they point to the emergence of new potential sources of global leadership in professions (such as medicine) and a new global network of courts committed to a broad interpretation of human rights, in global social movements, and in the transformation-oriented traditions of a politically energized Islam.'

Craig Murphy, Professor of Global Governance, University of Massachusetts, Boston

'In this wide-ranging, interdisciplinary volume, radical political economist Stephen Gill and his collaborators trace the economic, political, social and ecological crisis-tendencies within contemporary global capitalism and trace their ramifications for emergent forms of political agency and leadership both in the global North and the global South. This book is an essential contribution to our understanding of global neoliberalism - and to the ongoing work of envisioning, and forging, alternatives to it.'

Neil Brenner, Professor of Urban Theory, Harvard University

New Book: Adam David Morton, Revolution and State in Modern Mexico: The Political Economy of Uneven Development

2011-10-13T17:53:00.001+03:00

Adam David Morton, Revolution and State in Modern Mexico: The Political Economy of Uneven Development (Rowman & Littlefield, 2011). Critical Currents in Latin American Perspective Series. ISBN: 978-07425-5489-4, £49.95. www.rowmanlittlefield.com

About the Book:

This groundbreaking study develops a new approach to understanding the formation of the post-revolutionary state in Mexico. In a shift away from dominant interpretations, Adam Morton considers the construction of the revolution and the modern Mexican state through a fresh analysis of the Mexican Revolution, the era of import substitution industrialization, and neoliberalism. Throughout, the author makes interdisciplinary links among geography, political economy, postcolonialism, and Latin American studies in order to provide a new framework for analyzing the development of state power in Mexico. He also explores key processes in the contestation of the modern state, specifically through studies of the role of intellectuals, democratization and democratic transition, and spaces of resistance. As Morton argues, all these themes can only be fully understood through the lens of uneven development in Latin America.

Centrally, the book shows how the history of modern state formation and uneven development in Mexico is best understood as a form of passive revolution, referring to the ongoing class strategies that have shaped relations between state and civil society. As such, Morton makes an important interdisciplinary contribution to debates on state formation relevant to Mexican studies, postcolonial and development studies, historical sociology, and international political economy by revitalizing the debate on the uneven and combined character of development in Mexico and throughout Latin America. In so doing, he convincingly contends that uneven development can once again become a tool for radical political economy analysis in and beyond the region.

New Book: Rethinking Gramsci

2011-05-13T21:36:00.000+03:00

This edited volume provides a coherent and comprehensive assessment of Antonio Gramsci's significant contribution to the fields of political and cultural theory. It contains seminal contributions from a broad range of important political and cultural theorists from around the world and explains the origins, development and context for Gramsci's thought as well as analysing his continued relevance and influence to contemporary debates.

It demonstrates the multidisciplinary nature of Gramscian thought to produce new insights into the intersection of economic, political, cultural, and social processes, and to create a vital resource for readers across the disciplines of political theory, cultural studies, political economy, philosophy, and subaltern studies.

Rethinking Gramsci
edited by Marcus E. Green
New York: Routledge, 2011
ISBN: 9780415779739
http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415779739/

Contents
Introduction Marcus E. Green, Rethinking Marxism and Rethinking Gramsci

I. Culture and Criticism
1. Stuart Hall. Race, Culture, and Communications: Looking Backward and Forward at Cultural Studies
2. Paul Bové. Dante, Gramsci and Cultural Criticism
3. Daniel O’Connell. Bloom and Babbitt: A Gramscian View
4. Marcia Landy. Socialist Education Today: Pessimism or optimism of the intellect?

II. Hegemony, Subalternity, Common Sense
5. Derek Boothman. The Sources for Gramsci’s Concept of Hegemony
6. Marcus E. Green. Gramsci Cannot Speak: Presentations and Interpretations of Gramsci’s Concept of the Subaltern
7. Cosimo Zene. Self-consciousness of the Dalits as ‘subalterns:’ Reflections on Gramsci in South Asia
8. Evan Watkins. Gramscian Politics and Capitalist Common Sense
9. Frank R. Annunziato. Gramsci’s theory of trade unionism
10. Nelson Moe. Production and Its Others, Gramsci's 'Sexual Question'
11. Adam David Morton. Social Forces in the Struggle over Hegemony: Neo-Gramscian Perspectives in International Political Economy
12. Richard Howson. From Ethico-Political Hegemony to Post-Marxism

III. Political Philosophy
13. Richard D. Wolff. Gramsci, Marxism and Philosophy
14. Carlos Nelson Coutinho. General Will and Democracy in Rousseau, Hegel, and Gramsci
15. Wolfgang Fritz Haug. From Marx to Gramsci, from Gramsci to Marx: Historical Materialism and the Philosophy of Praxis
16. Steven R. Mansfield. Gramsci and the Dialectic
17. Esteve Morera. Gramsci’s Critical Modernity

IV. On Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks
18. David F. Ruccio. Unfinished Business: Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks
19. Joseph W. Childers. Of Prison Notebooks and the Restoration of an Archive
20. Peter Ives. The Mammoth Task of Translating Gramsci
21. William V. Spanos. Cuvier’s Little Bone: Joseph Buttigieg’s English Edition of Antonio Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks
22. Joseph A. Buttigieg. The Prison Notebooks: Antonio Gramsci’s Work in Progress

Robert W. Cox

2011-04-12T18:29:00.000+03:00

While wandering on internet, I came across a few sources on Robert W. Cox which I thought could be interesting and useful for the visitors of this blog.

1) The first is a video of Robert W. Cox while giving a keynote address at the University of Alberta, Canada, in October 2009. The title of his speech is "Consciousness and Civilization: The Inside Story".

2) The second is an interview made with Cox. I think the interview was made in March 2010. The interview is titled as: "World Orders, Historical Change, and the Purpose of Theory in International Relations".

3) The third is another interview with Cox. It dates back to 2003, and a pdf version of it can be found here.

4) Finally, the fourth one is a lecture given by Cox at ACUNS (The Academic Council of the United Nations System) in 1992, and is titled as: "Globalization, Multilateralism, and Democracy".

Hope you will like them and find them useful. :)

INTERNATIONAL GRAMSCI JOURNAL #3 March 2011

2011-03-25T18:13:00.000+02:00

INTERNATIONAL GRAMSCI JOURNAL #3 March 2011

C O N TE N T S

Editor’s note

GRAMSCI NOTES

Recent publications in English on Gramsci

Aggiornamento Bibliografia gramsciana Italia (primo semestre 2010)

O Estado Novo do PT
by Luiz Werneck Vianna

The articles by Gramsci published in English in International Press Correspondence
Introduced by Derek Boothman

• The Genoa Conference and Italy, Inprecorr Vol.2, No.28, p.211 (19 April 1922).
• The Mussolini government, Inprecorr Vol. 3, No. 102, p. 824.
• Fascism: Letter from Italy, Inprecorr Vol. 4, No. 1. (3 January1924).
• Italy and Yugoslavia, Inprecorr Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 25-26. (24 January 1924).
• Election Results in Italy, Inprecorr Vol. 4, No. 25, p. 231.
• The situation in the Communist party of Italy, Inprecorr Vol. 5, No. 60, pp. 835-6.

PEER REVIEWED ESSAYS

‘Resisting Abstraction: Gramsci’s Historiological Method’
by Nigel Greaves

‘The Centrality of the State in Neoliberal Times’
by Peter Mayo

Uluslararası İlişkilerde Eleştirel Kuram: Hegemonya, Medeniyetler ve Robert W. Cox

2011-03-20T22:23:00.000+02:00

İkinci baskısı Eylül 2009'da İmge yayınlarından çıkan Uluslararası İlişkilerde Eleştirel Kuram: Hegemonya, Medeniyetler ve Robert W. Cox başlıklı kitap için uzun zamandır, kısa da olsa bir tanıtım yazısı yazmayı planlıyordum. Ama araya sürekli birşeyler girdi ve ben de bu işi ertelemek durumunda kaldım. Şu anda kısa da olsa kitaptan burada bahsetmiş olmak istiyorum.

Burcu Bostanoğlu ve Mehmet Akif Okur'un birlikte çıkardıkları kitap, uluslararası ilişkilerdeki en önemli eleştirel kuramlardan birini, Robert W. Cox tarafından geliştirilen kuramı, tanıtmaya çalışan güzel bir giriş kitabı. Kitap iki bölümden oluşuyor. Birinci bölümde Burcu Bostanoğlu, uluslararası ilişkilerdeki metodoloji tartışmalarına ve bu konuda Robert W. Cox'un yaptığı katkılara değiniyor.

İkinci bölümde ise Mehmet Akif Okur, Robert W. Cox'a göre, post-hegemonik dünyanın yeni ontolojisinde sivil toplumun ve medeniyetlerin oynayacağı rolden bahsediyor. Kitabın sonuna eklenmiş olan Robert W. Cox kaynakçası da kitabın bahsedilmesi gereken diğer güzel yanlarından.

Anlatımı gayet güzel olan kitabın özellikle uluslararası ilişkiler bölümlerinde okuyan ve uluslararası ilişkiler teorilerine giriş tarzında dersler alan öğrenciler için çok yararlı olacağını düşünüyorum. Siyaset bilimi, Kamu Yönetimi vs. gibi bölümlerde olup da uluslararası ilişkiler teorisi ile ilgilenenler için de okunması gereken önemli bir Türkçe kaynak bence.

To Revolt is to Exist!

2011-02-03T12:12:00.000+02:00

Final Words on Socio-Political Change

2011-01-24T20:28:00.001+02:00

Gramsci’s theory on socio-political change and the role of the political party during that process is an interesting contribution to political theory. It differs from the utopian or mechanistic understandings of the socialist thought, and tries to explain the steps of the framework of a realizable change, or how change can be brought into a society. In doing that Gramsci starts from an individual and connects the individual with the social class he/she is in.

He pays an attention to the collective will, and how it can be formed both through consent and coercion. In that regard, he gives special importance to the role of the Jacobin force in persuading, directing the passive and apolitical masses to become active and political individuals who will take part in the political party and in the process of political change. At that point, the organic intellectuals of the political party and class plays a crucial role in persuading the masses to take part in the process, but the role of the organic intellectuals, it can be argued, is related with the consent dimension of the process. However, Gramsci believes that there must also be a Jacobin force to direct people to that process. Here, it can be argued that this is a missing gap in his theory because nowhere in his writings he explains who that Jacobin force could be, and how and through what ways this coercive force can direct, by using force, the people, the masses toward a goal, to take part in the political party, or to become a part of the socio-political change.

Another problematic point in Gramsci’s theory is that he gives a very great importance to the role of the political party as an agent or instrument through which the whole process of socio-political change can be organized and pursued. It looks like the political party embraces or includes everything and anything that is related with its social class, the masses, the intellectuals, the leaders, etc. This means that Gramsci leaves little, or even no, space for the other actors which can also play roles during the socio-political change. That makes it look like the political party is the only possible instrument through which this socio-political change can be organized and pursued. However, this loads great responsibilities and duties on the political party which, in fact, can hardly be realized only through the political party. For instance, the aim of founding a new type of State, being the founder of a new culture, a new society, raising the people to a new type or level of civilization are all considered by Gramsci as the “normal” roles and functions of the political party; however, it would be difficult to argue that a political party can be the organizer and carrier of such a great change even it can succeed in organizing its social base, its organic intellectuals, the media, the newspapers close to it, etc. and even it can succeed in convincing other social classes and thus their political parties to take part in their project and manage to create a new historical bloc.

Finally, Gramsci’s theory, if not a grand theory, is at least a middle-range theory. As a result, Gramsci doesn’t concern himself with doing micro analyses almost nowhere in his writings. For instance, Gramsci creates new theoretical concepts, such as historical bloc; however, he does not explain in details how and through what ways a historical bloc can be built. Generally, historical bloc is understood as a broad political and economical alliance between different social classes and political parties; however, one could ask whether any kind of broad political and economical alliance between social classes can be considered as historical bloc as well? For instance, from time to time, different political parties come together and form alliances, but can these be called as historical bloc, or are they just simply political alliances? These points in Gramsci’s thought, it seems, are not very clear and detailed; thus further elaboration is needed, and further micro analyses would be useful in making these concepts clearer.

Political Party and Hegemony

2011-01-21T10:58:00.001+02:00

To understand Gramsci’s concept of social class, political party and their role in socio-political change we also need to understand his theory of hegemony since these are all connected with each other in his thought and serve as the different instruments of bringing change to a society.

For instance, in the quote below Gramsci talks about the political party as the expression of a social class; however, in addition to that, he also argues that, at some periods, a single social group, through its political party, can, or even should, exercise a balancing and arbitrating function, role between the interests of its own group, and those of other groups. Here “a balancing and arbitrating role” actually refers to being hegemonic, and through that being able to lead the other social classes under its own leadership.

“Although every party is the expression of a social group, and of one social group only, nevertheless in certain given conditions certain parties represent a single social group precisely in so far as they exercise a balancing and arbitrating function between the interests of their group and those of other groups, and succeed in securing the development of the group which they represent with the consent and assistance of the allied groups – if not out and out with that of groups which are definitely hostile.”[1]

Political parties and their role in socio-political change in Gramscian theory can only be understood through the concept of hegemony because it can be argued that political parties function as no more than the agents of change according to Gramsci. However, they are probably the most complex and mature agents which can pursue the process and carry the mission of realizing such a goal: socio-political change. The crucial point here is related with the direction of this change, and whether what it envisages for the end of the process. It can be argued that change is directed toward the establishment of a hegemony, which is a desirable type of governing according to Gramsci, and that political party can play the role of leadership in carrying out the national-popular collective will,

As mentioned above, the political party, for Gramsci, is not merely a political expression, thus representative of a social class. In addition to that, the political party is the agent of socio-political change which is found to raise the people in the society to a new level political, legal, social and economic order, that is to say, to a new level of civilization. This role or function of founding a new State is related with the concept of hegemony because as Sassoon rightly explains, “each moment of hegemony represents a certain relationship between class forces.”[2] This certain relationship, hegemony, in the State level, in Gramsci’s thought, refers to an ethical State. In that regard, Gramsci argues that;

“Every State is ethical in as much as one of its most important functions is to raise the great mass of the population to a particular cultural and moral level, a level (or type) which corresponds to the needs of the productive forces for development, and hence to the interests of the ruling classes.”[3]

[1] Gramsci, Selections From Prison Notebooks, ibid., p. 148.

[2] Sassoon, Gramsci’s Politics, ibid., p. 115.

[3] Gramsci, Selections From Prison Notebooks, ibid., p. 258.

Political Party and Historical Bloc

2011-01-20T13:41:00.003+02:00

One of Gramsci’s very important theoretical concepts is historical bloc. On the one hand, the concept of historical bloc, in Prison Notebooks, is referred to a unity between the structure and the superstructure.[1] On the other hand, Gramsci uses the concept as a homogeneous politico-economic alliance which does not have internal contradictions.[2] Stephen Gill argues that a historical bloc is a process which is initiated by a conscious social force which intends to establish a new hegemony.

“An historical bloc refers to an historical congruence between material forces, institutions and ideologies, or broadly, an alliance of different class forces politically organized around a set of hegemonic ideas that gave strategic direction and coherence to its constituent elements. Moreover, for a new historical bloc to emerge, its leaders must engage in conscious planned struggle. Any new historical bloc must have not only power within the civil society and economy, it also needs persuasive ideas, arguments and initiatives that build on, catalyze and develop its political networks and organization – not political parties such.”[3]

The concept of historical bloc is important because it refers to a moment during the process of change which indicates that a political party has been built, and it is seeking to establish a hegemony. To do that, Gramsci argues that this social class, through its political party, has to organize other social classes and political parties as well to take part in their wider political, economical alliance, which in theory by Gramsci called as “historical bloc”. In that process, the organic intellectuals of the political party and the social class also play a fundamental role in producing the persuasive ideas and arguments needed in convincing other classes to be a part of their historical bloc, thus their upcoming hegemony.

However, as Anne Showstack Sassoon rightly points out, “an historical bloc is not to be reduced to a mere political alliance since it assumes a complex construction within which there can be sub-blocs such as, for example, an agrarian bloc, a complex formation of its own right, and an industrial bloc, each of these containing different elements and potential contradictions. The historical bloc can produce various political blocs made up of different combinations of political allies which none the less maintain the general configuration of the fundamental historical bloc.”[4]

As previously mentioned, the political party, the historical bloc and the hegemony are interconnected instruments in Gramsci’s thought through which a socio-political change can be realized. As Sassoon explains, “the historical bloc in implying necessarily the existence of hegemony also implies that in order to create a new historical bloc alternative to the existing one, the new, progressive class must create its own hegemonic apparatuses. The way in which the working class is able to do this, according to Gramsci, is through the party.”[5]

[1] See Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, ibid., p. 137. Also see p. 366. “Structures and superstructures form an historical bloc.”

[2] Ibid. p. 168.

[3] Gill, Stephen, Power and Resistance in the New World Order, Palgrave, Macmillan – 2002, p. 58.

[4] Anne Showstack Sassoon, Gramsci’s Politics, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987, p. 121.

[5] Ibid., pp. 123-124.

What are the Roles and Functions of the Political Party?

2011-01-19T09:55:00.003+02:00

In Gramsci’s thought, political party has a very wide meaning. In accordance with that, the responsibilities or the functions of the party are also very broadly defined. The political party, for instance, is thought to have the aim of founding a new type of State, and for Gramsci a political party is actually rationally and historically created for that end.[1]

Secondly, it can be said that a party’s role is to represent its social base, the social class, and defend its interest in the society. Gramsci argues that a “party is the expression and the most advanced element of the social group.”[2]

In accordance with the aim of founding a new state, we can speak of a third role of the political party in Gramsci’s thought. In that regard he argues that “the Modern Prince must be and cannot but be the proclaimer and organizer of an intellectual and moral reform, which also means creating the terrain for a subsequent development of the national popular collective will towards the realization of a superior, total form of modern civilization.”[3]

The political party, it can be argued, has a dual relationship with the collective will. That is to say, the political party is both an expression of the collective will, but also the carrier and developer of it. This can be counted as the fourth role or function of the political party. As Gramsci puts it, “these two fundamental points – the formation of a national-popular collective will of which the modern Prince is at the same time the organizer and active working expression, and a moral and intellectual reform – should constitute the structure of the work.”[4]

In addition to these, parties also have policing functions, that is to say they function to safeguard a certain political and legal order. In doing that, parties can either be progressive or regressive. That is to say, whether the party carries out its policing function “in order to conserve an outward, extrinsic order which is a fetter on the vital forces of history; or does it carry it out in the sense of tending to raise the people to a new level of civilization expressed programmatically in its political and legal order?”[5]

For Gramsci, the policing function of a party is progressive when “it tends to keep the dispossessed reactionary forces within the bounds of legality, and to raise the backward masses to the level of the new legality.”[6] On the other hand, “it is regressive when it tends to hold back the vital forces of history and to maintain a legality which has been superseded, which is anti-historical, which has become extrinsic.”[7] Furthermore, Gramsci argues that when the party is progressive it functions democratically, while in the second case, when it is regressive, it functions bureaucratically.[8]

[1] Ibid., p. 147.

[2] Ibid., p. 151.

[3] Gramsci, The Modern Prince and Other Writings, ibid., p. 139.

[4] Ibid., p. 140.

[5] Gramsci, Selections From Prison Notebooks, ibid., p. 155.

[6] Ibid., p. 155.

[7] Ibid., p. 155.

[8] Ibid., p. 155.

What is Political Party?

2011-01-18T11:03:00.002+02:00

Gramsci argues that for a party to exist, three fundamental elements have to converge. That is to say, they can exist in a certain society on their own; however, they have to come together in organized way to become a political party.

The first of these three fundamental elements, according to Gramsci, is the mass element. It is composed of ordinary, average men, whose participation takes the form of discipline and loyalty, but nothing more.[1] Without this element, a party cannot exist; however, a party cannot exist with this element alone either. As Gramsci indicates, “they are a force in so far as there is somebody to centralize, organize and discipline them. In the absence of this cohesive force, they would scatter into an impotent diaspora and vanish into nothing.”[2] Deriving from this, it can be followed that the next fundamental element should be the cohesive element which centralizes, organizes and disciplines the masses. Gramsci argues that with the power of innovation and disciplinary powers, this element becomes the basis for the other elements; but “it is also not true that neither could this element form the party alone; however, it could do so more than could the first element considered.”[3] To support this argument with an example, Gramsci, then, talks about the generals and the army relationship, and says that:

“One speaks of generals without an army, but in reality it is easier to form an army than to form generals. So much is this true that an already existing army is destroyed if it loses its generals, while the existence of a united group of generals who agree among themselves and have common aims soon creates an army even where none exists.”[4]

That is to say, the masses hold the potential to become formed as a party by the cohesive element: the generals, the organizers. However, without the cohesive element, the masses continue to stay in their potential form and cannot become active in the form of a party. This can only be maintained by the cohesive element. In that regard, the cohesive element turns the passive masses into an active organization which is the party or in other words, the Modern Prince.

In addition to these two elements, cohesive element being the basis, there must be one more element, which Gramsci calls the intermediate element, which articulates the first element (the mass element) with the second one (the cohesive element), and maintains contact between them, not only physically but also morally and intellectually.[5]

From this background, it can perhaps be argued that the masses for Gramsci have relatively a secondary role in the establishment and the development of the party. Or in other words, the existence of the mass element is like necessary condition for the founding of a party, but not a sufficient condition. The sufficient condition is the existence of generals, the cohesive element, which can lead this mass element to a certain direction.

Finally, when does a party cease to exist? A party ceases to exist when the classes, or the certain class of which the party is an expression, no longer exist since every party is only the nomenclature for a class, or in other words, the expression of a particular social class. When the cohesive element doesn’t exist, it can also be argued that a political party cannot exist. Gramsci argues that, the second element, the cohesive element, “must necessarily be in existence (if it is not, discussion is meaningless); its appearance is related to the existence of objective material conditions, even if still in fragmented and unstable state.”[6]

[1] Ibid., p. 152.

[2] Ibid., p. 152.

[3] Ibid., p. 152.

[4] Ibid., pp. 152-153.

[5] Ibid., p. 153.

[6] Ibid., p. 153.

Who/What is the Modern Prince?

2011-01-16T09:34:00.003+02:00

In discussing the Modern Prince, Gramsci first explains why Machiavelli’s Prince cannot automatically be applied to the modern world. In that regard, Gramsci argues that the Modern Prince, which is both the expression and the carrier of the national-popular collective will, cannot be a real person, a concrete individual. The Modern Prince “can only be an organism; a complex element of society in which a collective will, which has already been recognized and has to some extent asserted itself in action, begins to take concrete form. History has already provided this organism, and it is the political party – the first cell in which there come together germs of a collective will tending to become universal and total.”[1]

Furthermore, Gramsci says that “if one had to translate the notion ‘Prince’, as used in Machiavelli’s work, into modern political language, one would have to make a series of distinctions: the ‘Prince’ could be a Head of State, or the leader of a government, but it could also be a political leader whose aim is to conquer a State, or to found a new type of State; in this sense, ‘Prince’ could be translated in modern terms as ‘political party’.”[2]

But how does this Modern Prince come into existence? What is the relationship between the social classes and the political parties? As Hobsbawm explains, Gramsci, like the later Marx, conceives the party as the organized class.[3] In that regard, Gramsci argues that “classes produce parties, and parties form the personnel of the State and government, the leaders of civil and political society.”[4]

“Parties come into existence, and constitute themselves as organizations, in order to influence the situation at moments which are historically vital for their class; but they are not always capable of adapting themselves to new tasks and to new epochs, nor of evolving pari passu with the overall relations of force (and hence the relative position of their class) in the country in question, or in the international field. In analyzing the development of parties, it is necessary to distinguish: their social group; their mass membership; their bureaucracy and General Staff. The bureaucracy is the most dangerously hidebound and conservative force; if it ends up by constituting a compact body, which stands on its own and feels itself independent of the mass of members, the party ends up by becoming anachronist and at moments of acute crisis it is voided of its social content and left as though suspended in mid-air.”[5]

Gramsci argues that “in fact, if it is true that parties are only the nomenclature for classes, it is also true that parties are not simply mechanical and passive expression of those classes, but react energetically upon them in order to develop, solidify and universalize them.”[6] A party, according to Gramsci, is the expression and the most advanced element of a social group and this shows the relationship between a certain party and the social classes in the society. In that regard, the history of a political party is actually the history of a particular social class.

In the existence of a single, totalitarian[7], governing party, Gramsci argues that there actually exists no political party. This is mainly because, for Gramsci, political party can also be defined in terms of its functions, thus, a totalitarian party, in that regard, does not have directly political functions, but merely technical ones, such as propaganda, public order and moral and cultural influence.[8] Furthermore, when looked from a functional perspective, according to Gramsci, the definition of the political party can be extended to the other organizations in the society which in one way or another performs a political action or function. In that regard, Gramsci argues that “this function can be studied with greater precision if one starts from the point of view that a newspaper too (or group of newspapers), a review (or groups of reviews), is a ‘party’ or ‘fraction of party’ or ‘a function of a particular party’.”[9]

However, this doesn’t mean that the existence of political action or function is the only determinant when talking about parties. For instance, Gramsci argues that “there seem to be two types of party which reject the idea of immediate political action as such.”[10] One is the party which is constituted by elite men of culture whose function is to provide leadership of a cultural and general ideological nature for a great movement of interrelated parties, and the second is a type of party which is constituted by masses whose function is of a military kind.[11]

[1] Ibid., p. 129.

[2] Ibid., p. 253.

[3] Eric J. Hobsbawm, ibid., p. 28.

[4] Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, ibid., p. 227.

[5] Ibid., p. 211.

[6] Ibid., p. 227.

[7] “It is important to realize that Gramsci does not use this word in the pejorative sense which it has acquired in bourgeois ideology today – it is a quite neutral term for him, meaning approximately ‘all-embracing and unifying’. We have sometimes translated it by ‘global’.”, Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, ibid., (footnote 33), p. 147.

[8] Ibid., p. 149.

[9] Ibid., p. 148.

[10] Ibid., p. 149.

[11] Ibid., pp. 149-150.

What is National-Popular Collective Will?

2011-01-15T10:15:00.003+02:00

Gramsci discusses Sorel’s concept of myth and The Prince of Machiavelli with regard to their importance about the collective will. For Gramsci, the Prince was actually a symbol of the collective will.[1] Sorel’s myth serves to a similar purpose for Gramsci. Sorel, a principal theorist of revolutionary syndicalism, developed the idea of the General Strike as a myth through which a collective will can be formed and brought into action.[2] Deriving from this background, Gramsci comes up with an idea about how to connect this problematic of creating or forming a collective will in his study. He argues that “a study might be made of how it came about that Sorel never advanced from his conception of ideology-as-myth to an understanding of the political party, but stopped short at the idea of the trade union.”[3] It can be said that, in a way, Gramsci criticizes Sorel for not developing his theory further, and not building a more comprehensive uniting instrument or organization, rather than the General Strike and the trade union, which can create a collective will that is stronger, and deriving from this, he wants to develop the theory to cover broader organizations than a trade union, and through which a nation-wide change can be realized.

This point is very important for Gramsci, because for him, an instrument cannot be effective if it leaves the collective will, as Sorel did in the case of General Strike and trade union, in the primitive and elementary phase of its formation.[4] What concerns Gramsci more is that, if left in that way, that particular collective will will cease to exist, scatter into an infinity of individual wills which in the positive phase then follow separate and conflicting paths.[5] Here, it can be argued that Gramsci prefers the collective will and puts a normative emphasis on it when compared to individual will. However, this point could be criticized because one could be concerned about the individual’s place in Gramsci’s theory. Individual will is important because collective will does not happen to emerge all spontaneously and through a completely consensus-based way, and that means the individual will sometimes can be suppressed and oppressed in the name of the collective will.[6] That is to say, besides consent, Gramsci believes that there should be also a Jacobin dimension in the creation of the collective will which will use force or coercion to bring the individuals together. That would be a criticism of the idea of creation of the collective will; however, on the other hand, looked from a realistic point of view, this seems more realizable and more realistic. It can be said that the existence of this coercive factor, the Jacobin force, in Gramsci’s thought, puts the theory into a more realistic structure, and differentiates it from utopian ideas, thoughts.

How does a national-popular collective will emerge? According to Gramsci, there are mainly two preconditions for the emergence of a national-popular collective will. Firstly, the individuals should desire a common change. This forms the spontaneous part of the emergence of the collective will, and through this, the mass emerges as well. Gramsci says that “the positive conditions are to be sought in the existence of urban social groups which have attained an adequate development in the field of industrial production and a certain level of historico-political culture. Any formation of a national-popular collective will is impossible, unless the great mass of peasant farmers bursts simultaneously into political life.”[7] From that it can be understood that for Gramsci, participation of the masses to the political life is of vital importance for the development of a national-popular collective will.

However, this would not be enough. The second necessary factor would be the presence of an effective Jacobin force. That is to say, the group of individuals needs to be directed towards a goal with a leadership which can, or should have, a coercive dimension. Force and consent (or coercion and consent) in the formation of a political party is necessary as it is necessary in the establishment of hegemony. Gramsci argues that collective will disintegrates, or to be more concrete it disintegrated in Italy, due to three reasons. The first reason was “because great masses, previously passive, entered into movement – but into a chaotic and disorganized movement, without leadership, i.e. without any precise collective political will.”[8] Secondly, “because the middle classes, who during the war held positions of command and responsibility, when peace came were deprived of these and left unemployed.”[9] Finally, the collective popular will disintegrated “because the antagonistic forces proved to be incapable of organizing this situation of disorder to their own advantage.”[10] The problem, as Gramsci puts forward, was to reconstruct a hegemonic apparatus for these formerly passive and apolitical elements, which is the mass element required for the existence of a national-popular collective will, and through this for the existence of the political party.

However, in “Voluntarism and Social Masses”, Gramsci argues that the actions and organizations of ‘volunteers’ must be distinguished from the actions and organizations of other homogenous blocs. That is to say, while a group of people within the society can voluntarily be part of the organizations and take part in the actions, processes, there are also others, perhaps even greater amount of people, who does not voluntarily take part in organizations. Where the force (coercion), or the Jacobin force, is needed is actually at this point because the great masses, Gramsci argues, cannot be brought into an organized form without a certain degree of coercion used.[11] The necessity of this coercive factor is, Gramsci believes, especially important in the case of Italy due to the traditional apoliticism and passivity of the great popular masses.[12] As Gramsci claims, “an effective Jacobin force was always missing, and could not be constituted; and it was precisely such a Jacobin force which in other nations awakened and organized the national-popular collective will, and founded the modern States.”[13] So, to conclude, we can argue that, apart from the voluntarism of some of the social masses, the Jacobin force, the coercive element, is needed when turning the great passive and, perhaps apolitical, masses into active and political forces.

Following that Gramsci discusses why passion, the Croce’s concept which can have an individualistic and group character, cannot be the real motivator of the process of the formation of the national-popular collective will, and he argues that it is mainly because passion can only provide a temporary condition of orgasm and spasm which, for Gramsci, means operational incapacity. Due to this operational incapacity and its temporality, passion excludes parties, because it excludes action.[14] However, Gramsci argues that “parties exist and plans of actions are worked out, put into practice, and are often successful to a remarkable extent.”[15]

The reason why Gramsci focuses on action is mainly because of his commitment to the philosophy of praxis in which practical dimension is believed to be one of the most important parts, a must, of the intellectual production, science, or philosophy. He discusses the importance of the philosophy of praxis while talking about Machiavelli and Marx[16], whom he regards as the philosophers of praxis, unlike Croce whom he considers as an “isolated thinker”.[17] He argues that “Machiavelli’s style is the style of a man of action, of a man urging action, the style of a party manifesto.” That is to say, Gramsci too, as a philosopher of praxis, is not interested in doing science in the name of science, or studying political science as a pure philosophical speculation; it must have a practical dimension in it. As Eric J. Hobsbawm rightly puts, for Gramsci, “sociological analysis must be reformulated as politics, i.e. in terms of action to change the world, and not merely to interpret it.”[18]

Finally, before starting to discuss political party, Gramsci, finally talks about the principal elements of politics. In that regard, the first element he mentions is the existence of rulers and ruled, leaders and led. Following this, he argues that “the principle once posed that there are leaders and led, rulers and ruled, it is true that parties have up till now been the most effective way of developing leaders and leadership.”[19]

[1] Ibid., p. 125.

[2] Ibid,, p. 126 (footnote 4).

[3] Ibid., p. 127.

[4] Ibid., p. 128.

[5] Ibid., p. 128.

[6] For instance the case of Hitler can be a good example to show how the collective will can suppress the opposing individual wills and create a dictatorship rather than a hegemony.

[7] Ibid., p. 132.

[8] Ibid., pp. 228-229.

[9] Ibid., p. 229.

[10] Ibid., p. 229.

[11] Ibid., p. 229.

[12] Ibid., p. 203.

[13] Gramsci, Antonio, The Modern Prince and Other Writings, International Publishers, June – 1959, p. 131.

[14] Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, ibid., p. 138.

[15] Ibid., p. 139.

[16] Karl Marx wrote, in the most widely quoted of his theses on Feurbach, that “philosophers have only tried to understand the world in various ways. The point; however, is to change it.”, http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/40008.html, (2009-01-27).

[17] Gramsci, Prison Notebooks, ibid., pp. 133-134.

[18] Eric J. Hobsbawm, “Gramsci and Marxist Political Theory”, in Approaches to Gramsci, (ed.) Anne Showstack Sassoon, Writers and Readers Pub., London – 1982, p. 23.

[19] Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, ibid., p. 146.

What is Man?

2011-01-14T17:43:00.003+02:00

To know about Gramsci’s understanding of “man” is very important and can be very useful in understanding how the whole phenomenon of the socio-political change happens because it provides the necessary background about how change begins in one single man, and how it becomes a broad, popular, national or even an international phenomenon. Furthermore man, the individual, is important since single men, when come together through certain bonds, form the basis of a social class. That helps us to understand the transition from an individual to a class in Gramsci’s thought. Finally, understanding the man in terms of his individual will makes it possible for us to understand and analyze the transition from the individual will to collective will.

To begin with, I can say that Gramsci is not interested in what man is in each individual because in this way, he argues that, one can only find out what man is only in each individual, but not what man is in general. The idea of “man in general” can remind the reader the idea of “human nature”; however, for Gramsci, the idea of human nature, which envisages a fixed concept of human, cannot be the real answer of the question of what man is in general because the question, what is man, is not an abstract or an objective question. In that regard, Gramsci criticizes both the philosophical points of views which try to create an idea of fixed understanding of “human nature” which can be generalized to each and every individual in any time and space, like the “human nature” perceptions of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, etc., and also the views of religions, such as that of Catholicism, which conceives of man as a defined and limited individual, because he believes that there does not exist, historically, a way of seeing things and of acting which is equal for all men, no more no less.[1]

In contrast to these understandings, Gramsci believes that man in general should be understood as a series of active relationships, as a process. In that respect, he thinks that when one asks whether what man is, this actually means whether what man can become; that is to say, whether man can dominate his own destiny, can he make himself, and can he create his own life. Therefore, he says, man is a process, and, more exactly, man is the process of his actions. He argues that “the humanity which is reflected in each individuality is composed of various elements, and these are: 1) the individual, 2) other men, and 3) the natural world.”[2] Following that, Gramsci argues that the individual enters into relations with other men and the natural world around him, both passively, by just being a part of the natural world and the society, and also actively, through working both in the nature and with other men. In light of these set of relations, change takes place in the individual, to the extent that he changes and modifies the complex relations of which he is the hub. That explains how change can happen in one individual.[3]

However, for Gramsci, collective change is deeply related with one individual’s change, and in that regard, he argues that “if one’s own individuality is the ensemble of these relations, to create one’s personality means to acquire consciousness of them, and to modify one’s own personality means to modify the ensemble of these relations.”[4] That is to say, change in one individual means change in the whole. As Gramsci puts it, “when the individual can associate himself with all the other individuals who want the same changes, and if the changes wanted are rational, the individual can be multiplied an impressive number of times and can obtain a change which is far more radical than at first sight ever seemed possible.”[5] Finally, it can be said that it is at this point, the single man, the individual, becomes the collective man or the “man in general”, and through which both an individual and collective change can be realized. As Gramsci puts it;

“An historical act can only be performed by ‘collective man’, and this presupposes the attainment of a ‘cultural-social’ unity through which a multiplicity of dispersed wills, with heterogeneous are welded together with a single aim, on the basis of an equal and common conception of the world, both general and particular, operating in transitory bursts (in emotional ways) or permanently where the intellectual base is so well rooted, assimilated and experienced that it becomes passion.”[6]

[1] Gramsci, Antonio, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith (ed.), Lawrence and Wishart Pub., London – 1971, pp. 351-352.

[2] Ibid., p. 352.

[3] Ibid., pp. 351-352.

[4] Ibid., p. 352.

[5] Ibid., p. 353.

[6] Ibid., p. 349.

What is Change?

2011-01-12T09:46:00.004+02:00

As mentioned earlier, Gramsci’s theory can be viewed as a holistic one which covers almost all aspects of the subject matter and tries to provide a complete picture of the issue. Within that completeness, it can be said that Gramsci’s main concern is to bring change to his society in particular and to world in general, and to do that, he first tries to provide ways for understanding and explaining the world/society he is in, and secondly, shows the ways or instruments through which this change can be realized.

Also with regards to “change”, it would be wrong to argue that Gramsci is solely, even at different and isolated parts of his writings, interested with only one dimension of change in a society, be it economic change, political change, social change, or cultural change, etc. What is more correct is that he is actually interested in the phenomenon of change as a whole, and in that respect that change refers to, or covers, all these spheres of a society. In the following entries, I will also deal with that broad definition or understanding of change in Gramsci’s thought; however, when I use the term, I will briefly use it as “socio-political change”.

The political party, the so-called Modern Prince, in that regard is related with Gramsci’s broader concerns about the political situation of the working-class in Italy, and how this class can succeed in establishing its own hegemony. Deriving from these broad perceptions regarding politics and life, Gramsci perceives the political party, not just as a mere sociological category, but as a very important component and instrument through which the socio-political change, the “whole change” which Gramsci envisages, can be brought to Italy. In that regard, what he expects from the political party is to found a new type of State which is far broader than any political party’s general functions in today’s world, and what he actually means by “a new type of State” is a combination of many other things, such as a new culture, a new society, new citizens, new man, new world-view, new ideology, etc.

The Modern Prince and Socio-Political Change in Gramscian Theory

2011-01-11T20:18:00.004+02:00

Following this entry, I will write a number of different entries dealing with Gramsci’s theory on political party and what roles and functions the political party has with regards to socio-political change. Gramsci’s theory in general can be considered as a holistic one, and as a matter of fact, his theory on one subject is not isolated from his thoughts and ideas about other things. Moreover, all of his concepts, theoretical tools, are deeply related and connected with each other. Therefore, in order to understand the role of the political party in socio-political change in Gramsci’s theory, one should also take into consideration the other relevant actors, components, or factors which take part in this change. Accordingly, besides political party, I will also talk about his other theoretical concepts, or other parts of his theory, such as organic intellectuals, historical bloc, hegemony, man, class, collective will, Jacobin force, etc., to the extent that they contribute to the process of socio-political change.

Political Philosophy: First-Order Activity and Second-Order Activity

2010-10-04T20:07:00.003+03:00

I had this view before about political philosophy, but I did not know how it was actually explained in an academic, theoretical way. That is, I always objected to the idea of studying ideas, political thoughts, theories, etc. in a purely academic, scholarly way to see if they have logical consistencies, to see how they evolved throughout the history, etc. This is not to say that I undervalued the studies, attempts which dealt with political philosophy/theory from this point of view. However, I found it definitely more exciting and perhaps even more important to read and study the writings of previous political philosophers and contemplate about them to develop my own ideas and thoughts about the problems, issues and questions of myself, my life, of the society, the world and the time I live in.

Today, while reading a book on political theory, Political Thinkers: From Socrates to the Present, I had the chance to find the "academic" discussion behind these ideas. Firstly the book reminds the reader of the distinction between the first-order activity of political philosophizing and the second-order activity of studying what political philosophers write. In that respect, what I like more is actually the first-order activity of political philosopizing. The book writes that David Easton attacked at the second-order activity by saying that the scholars of his time "simply reiterated the meanings, logical consistency and historical development of political ideas instead of analyzing and producing new value theories."

Further, he criticized historians of political thought for being "preoccupied with the narration of the intellectual events of the past, and suggested that the modern political theorist should use the history of values in order to discover the variety of moral outlooks with the hope that this would aim him in the construction of his own political synthesis or image of a good political life."

So, how this first-order activity of political philosophizing can be practiced? It is argued that "a reflection on past thinkers provides a prolegomena to actual theorizing. This is not intended in the simplistic sense of continueing a timeless conversation, nor of drawing simple lessons or arguments from past political thinkers. Rather it embodies a recognition that first-order political theorizing cannot emerge from nowhere, but instead is a constructive enterprise that involves building, expanding, and developing the vocabularies that are inherent in great political texts."

The Question of Alienation

2010-08-07T12:35:00.008+03:00

There are mainly four dimensions of alienation according to Marx. 1) The first dimension of alienation has to do with worker becoming alienated in relationship to the production of his labor. That is to say, the worker becomes detached from the result of his/her own labor, from the result of his/her working action, from his/her own product. 2) In the second dimension, alienation takes place during the process of production, while producing something. Worker can become alienated while producing something because the process of production in capitalist mode of production turns him/her into an idiot, to a machine-like person who performs the same action thousands of times during the day. 3) Thirdly, the worker becomes alien to himself/herself because he/she cannot really realize his/her potentials, his/her faculties, both intellectual and physical faculties and capabilities. Therefore, he/she cannot realize his existence in the human sense. He/she can realize only his animal faculties, such as eating, drinking, cohabiting, etc. 4) Finally, as a consequence of all these, that is, the worker becomes alienated from nature, from his/her faculties, and from his/her existence, he/she becomes alienated from other men as well.

The alienation issue is important for Marx because he considers human as a species that contains both animal and human faculties. For Marx, animal life is united with nature, and it is an instinctual life. Human life, on the other hand, is a combination of nature, spirit, conscious life and free will. Therefore with alienation humans loose their most of human faculties, and almost turn into an animal because being an alienated human, he/she can only utilize his/her animal faculties, such as drinking, eating, cohabiting, etc.

But alienation is not all about that. There is one more consequence in that matter. The question is if the product of labor is alien to the worker, if it confronts the worker as an alien power, then to whom does it belong? This is a crucial question because with the answer of this Marx develops a broader understanding of the implications of being alienated. Marx’s answer is that “if the product of labor does not belong to the worker, if it confronts him as an alien power, then this can only be because it belongs to some other man than the worker. If the worker’s activity is a torment to him, to another it must be delight and his life’s joy.”

And who is this other man than the worker?

“Through estranged, alienated labor, then, the worker produces the relationship to this labor of a man alien to labor and standing outside it. The relationship of the worker to labor creates the relation to it of the capitalist (or whatever one chooses to call the master of labor).”

From all this analysis of alienation, Marx comes to a conclusion about private property. He concludes that as a result of this alienation process as a whole private property begins to exist. Private property, as understood here, is the end product, the result of the labor of the worker, but it is not the worker’s property, instead it is the capitalist’s property. Worker, by working for the capitalist, produces a property for the capitalist; and this is how private property comes into existence. In this way, Marx again reverses the analysis of private property as it was done by the classical political economists. Also, philosophers, such as Hobbes and Locke, begin with the premise that private property, just as freedom, right to live, etc., is a natural right of humans, a right that exists without being dependent on any other external thing. It is a right that is gained by virtue of being a human being, according to Locke and Hobbes. As for the classical economists, as Marx argues, the private property again is the primary assumption from which further analysis is pursued. That is to say, it is the private property that exists first and then there may occur some kind of alienation. In this way, it seems like private property is the cause and alienation is the result. However, as Marx shows it, there is a reverse relationship here, that is, alienation is what exists in the first instance, and from that private property emerges. That’s why private property is not something natural, is not something that can be accepted, tolerated. It is the product of the labor of a worker, but it belongs to someone else, to the capitalist, and therefore, it cannot be acceptable.

“Private property is thus the product, the result, the necessary consequence, of alienated labor, of the external relation of the worker to nature and to himself. Private property thus results by analysis from the concept of alienated labor, of alienated man, of estranged labor, of estranged life, of estranged man. True, it as a result of the movement of private property that we have obtained the concept of alienated labor (of alienated life) from political economy. But on analysis of this concept it becomes clear that though private property appears to be the source, the cause of alienated labor, it is rather its consequence, just as the gods are originally not the cause but the effect of man’s intellectual confusion.”

Then, what is the cure for alienation? Because as a critical theorist, Marx does not feel satisfied by just explaining the phenomena, in addition, he also shows how this current situation can be changed and how an alternative situation, a better one, can be developed in its place.

Unrestrained economic competition leads more and more people to lose control of means of production, forcing them to submit to the labor market. So, the cure for alienation is not mere removal of political restrictions but the creation of a new kind of economy, based on common control of production in the interest of reciprocity, expressive work, and the satisfaction of the needs characteristics of cooperating human beings. It can be said that Marx tried to explain the roots of spiritual ills, both alienation and the one-sided personal development, through economy and division of labor.

Antonio Gramsci, I Giorni del Carcere - My Life in Prison

2010-02-12T13:30:00.002+02:00

Here is a documentary on Gramsci which focuses on his prison life particularly. The documentary is in Italian, so you can either watch it like that or try to find English subtitles somewhere on internet. I searched for the English subtitles, but could not find anything so far. So, if you find the appropriate English subtitles, I would be happy if you could inform me about it as well. Thanks in advance.

http://rapidshare.com/files/276555575/Antonio.Gramsci.I.Giorni.Del.Carcere.1977-SMz.avi.001

http://rapidshare.com/files/276556229/Antonio.Gramsci.I.Giorni.Del.Carcere.1977-SMz.avi.002

http://rapidshare.com/files/276552937/Antonio.Gramsci.I.Giorni.Del.Carcere.1977-SMz.avi.003

http://rapidshare.com/files/276556897/Antonio.Gramsci.I.Giorni.Del.Carcere.1977-SMz.avi.004

http://rapidshare.com/files/276552211/Antonio.Gramsci.I.Giorni.Del.Carcere.1977-SMz.avi.005

http://rapidshare.com/files/276553651/Antonio.Gramsci.I.Giorni.Del.Carcere.1977-SMz.avi.006

http://rapidshare.com/files/276556297/Antonio.Gramsci.I.Giorni.Del.Carcere.1977-SMz.avi.007

http://rapidshare.com/files/276551877/Antonio.Gramsci.I.Giorni.Del.Carcere.1977-SMz.avi.008

http://rapidshare.com/files/276555382/Antonio.Gramsci.I.Giorni.Del.Carcere.1977-SMz.avi.009

http://rapidshare.com/files/276553745/Antonio.Gramsci.I.Giorni.Del.Carcere.1977-SMz.avi.010

http://rapidshare.com/files/276554789/Antonio.Gramsci.I.Giorni.Del.Carcere.1977-SMz.avi.011

Laura Ruberto: Gramsci, Migration, and the Representation of Women's Work in Italy and the U.S.

2010-01-27T21:41:00.003+02:00

Laura E. Ruberto's book, Gramsci, Migration, and the Representation of Women's Work in Italy and the U.S., is now available in paperback.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

This book considers cultural representations of four different types of labor within Italian and U.S. contexts: stories and songs that chronicle the lives of Italian female rice workers, or mondine; testimonials and other narratives about female domestic servants in Italy in the second half of the twentieth century (including contemporary immigrants from non-western countries); cinematic representations of unwaged household work among Italian American women; and photographs of female immigrant cannery labor in California.

These categories of labor suggest the diverse ways in which migrant women workers take part in the development of what Antonio Gramsci calls national popular culture, even as they are excluded from dominant cultural narratives. The project looks at Italian immigration to the U.S., contemporary immigration to Italy, and internal migration within Italy, the emphasis being on what representations of migrant women workers can tell us about cultural and political change.

In addition to the idea of national popular culture, Gramsci's discussion of the social role of subalterns and organic intellectuals, the politics of folklore (or "common sense") and everyday culture, and the necessity of alliance-formations among different social groups all inform the textual analyses. An introduction, which includes a reconsideration of Gramsci's theories in light of feminist theory, argues that the lives of subaltern classes (such as migrant women) are inherently connected to struggles for hegemony. A brief epilogue, on a lesser-known essay by photographer Tina Modotti, closes the discussion.

"Ruberto moves labor cultural history to a new level by exploring and connecting diverse areas previously ignored or understudied. Theoretically grounded in the work of Antonio Gramsci, this study revises earlier applications of his theories to gender and work to create a unique and rewarding challenge to earlier, limited views of Italian and Italian American women's work. Ruberto's range of study and precision of analysis forces serious reconsideration of the roles women played in the Italian migration experience. There is a powerful freshness here that will no doubt spark new discussion in Italian and Italian Americans studies."—Fred Gardaphe, Director of the Italian American Studies Program, Stony Brook University

"Much like Gramsci in his notebooks, Laura Ruberto offers readings of diverse and complex networks of cultural products. Ruberto clearly, effectively, and engagingly threads "women's work" through expressive sites such as rice paddies, writing, film, and factories. Embroidering a context of activism and social change—Pasquale Verdicchio, Associate Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature, University of California, San Diego across continents, Ruberto's own work proposes further new ways of being Gramscian."

About the Author

Laura E. Ruberto is a professor in the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies at Berkeley City College in California.

Seminario Internacional Antonio Gramsci

2009-11-19T13:45:00.007+02:00

Hello,

Yesterday, I had a conversation with Miguel Angel Herrera Zgaib from National University of Bogota, Colombia. He told me about a conference on Gramsci which they are going to organize soon, and I wanted to announce this on my blog, thinking that it might be interesting for some of the followers. Also, I added some links about Miguel Angel Herrera Zgaib to the Links section on the right side.

Meeting Andreas Bieler in Helsinki

2009-09-07T21:05:00.016+03:00

I was in Sweden during the last two weeks. I wanted to have some rest and also read things to relax, that is to say, reading things that are not related with my academic interests. It was a nice 14 days in which I had a good rest, and also was able to finish The Insulted and Humiliated from Dostoevsky.

Before returning to Istanbul, I decided to make a trip to Helsinki. Although I was traveling between Turkey and Sweden since 2005, I had never been to its eastern neighbor, Finland. While I was making plans about Helsinki, I remembered that Andreas Bieler and Stephen Gill were also there. So, I sat down and sent them an email about my visit, and asked whether they could have time to meet me. Stephen Gill didn't answer, but Andreas Bieler told me that he will be available on Friday. Luckily I found a ticket for Friday, and started to get prepared for the trip.

I arrived in Helsinki on the Friday morning. After walking around the city for some time, I went to Helsinki University, to the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. Following a short search, I found Andreas Bieler in his room. First, we went to school's cafeteria for a lunch, and after the lunch, we went outside for a walk and took a photo together.

Helsinki trip was nice, but what made it nicer for me was meeting Andreas Bieler. I had the opportunity to discuss with him the thesis project I had in my mind, and also talk about my studies. I also wanted to meet Stephen Gill as well, but he wasn't available. If I had waited until Monday, I could meet him, but unfortunately I had to go back to Sweden. at 5pm in the evening. However, later I received an email from Stephen Gill, and that was something as well. :)

Finally I think it would be useful to remind the readers that Andreas Bieler and Stephen Gill are going to pursue their research in Helsinki during the next year. So, if you ever go to Helsinki during that time, maybe you can drop by and visit them as well. :) For those who are interested, Stephen Gill is going to give a lecture on "The Constitution of Global Capitalism" on September 30, 2009.

Antonio Gramsci: Bir Devrimcinin Yaşamı

2009-08-13T13:13:00.006+03:00

Geçtiğimiz gece Antonio Gramsci'nin biyografisini bitirdim. Genel olarak güzel bir kitap olduğunu söyleyebilirim. Çevirisi güzel olduğu için de benim için kolay okunan bir kitaptı. Kitaptan Gramsci hakkında bilmediğim birçok şeyi öğrendim, fakat burada geneli de ilgilendirebileceğini düşündüğüm birkaç şeyden bahsetmek istiyorum.

Birincisi, kitabın yazarı Giuseppe Fiori, Gramsci hakkında bilinen bir yanlış anlamayı - ya da daha doğrusu Gramsci hakkında bilinen yanlışlardan birinini - ele alıyor. Buna göre Gramsci'nin ailesinin fakir olduğu ve Gramsci'nin çocukluğunun da fakirlik ve yoksulluk içinde geçtiğine yönelik yanlış bilgiyi/algıyı düzeltmeye çalışıyor. Öncelikle Gramsci'nin ailesinin kökenleri hakkında bilgi veriyor, ki buna göre babası orta düzey bir memurmuş ve annesi de yine orta düzey bir aileden geliyormuş. Buna ilaveten yazar, kardeşi Gennaro'dan Gramsci'nin çocukluğu ile ilgili bilgileri de aktarıyor. Buna göre de Gramsci'nin çocukluğu, babası memurluk görevini kaybedip hapse girene kadar, büyük bir zenginlik içinde değilse bile, görece bir rahatlık içinde geçmiş.

Önemli gördüğüm bir başka husus ise Gramsci'yi ve onun İtalyan komünist hareketi içerisindeki önemini ve yerini anlayabilmek için diğer bazı isimlerin de, örneğin Bordiga, Tasca, Togliatti, vs., bilinmesi gerektiği. Bu kişilerin birbirleriyle olan rekabetleri, çekişmeleri veya birliktelikleri çok ayrıntılı olmasa da kitapta yer buluyor. Burada benim gördüğüm, pratik siyaset alanında Gramsci'nin diğer İtalyan komünist liderlere nazaran aslında daha gerilerde olduğu.

Üçüncü olarak, Gramsci'ye ait olduğunu bildiğim ve blogun sağ üst köşesine de yazdığım sözün (pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will) aslında Gramsci'ye ait olmadığını öğrendim. Bu söz Romain Rolland adında birine aitmiş, Gramsci de sıkça kullanırmış.

Son olarak da bir noktadan bahsetmeden geçemeyeceğim. Her ne kadar kitabın dili güzel ve rahat okunur olsa da, sunuşun oldukça dramatik olduğunu söyleyebilirim. Tamam Gramsci'nin hayatı kolay bir hayat değildi ve çok sıkıntılar yaşadı, ama kitabın geneline sinmiş dramatik hava o kadar ağır ki, bir süre sonra insan bunun bilerek mi abartıldığını düşünmeden edemiyor.

Kitap hakkında şimdilik söyleyeceklerim bunlar. Daha ileride belki tekrar birşeyler yazarım. Herkese iyi okumalar...

Biyografiler: Kant, Heidegger ve Gramsci

2009-08-06T22:34:00.006+03:00

Bu sıralar kendimi biyografi okumakla meşgul ediyorum, aslında yazmam gereken bir final ödevi olmasına rağmen. Aslında önceden de biyografi okurdum, ama bu daha ziyade elime tek tük biyografi geçtiğinde ve tabii ki pek nadiren olurdu. Bu sıralar ise bu biyografi meselesine epey bir daldım diyebilirim. İlk olarak geçtiğimiz ay Kant'ın İletişim yayınlarından çıkan bir biyografisini (Kant'ın Dünyası) aldım, okumaya başladım ve giderek kendimi kitabın içinde buldum. Kitap Kant'ın hayatını, yaşadığı çevre ile bağlantılı olarak anlatıyor, ama daha da önemlisi, Kant'ı, onun ilgilendiği felsefî sorunlar, okuduğu kitaplar ve dönemin felsefî sorularıyla bağlantılı olarak anlatıyor. Bu anlatımdan da insanın zihninde gerçekten kitabın başlığındaki gibi bir Kant Dünyası belirmeye başlıyor, ki kitabın bunu yapabilmesi de çok hoşuma gitti. :)

Kant'ın biyografisinin bir kısmını okuduktan sonra, birkaç ay önce satın aldığım başka bir biyografiyi okumaya başladım. Bu da Kabalcı yayınlarından çıkan "Bir Alman Üstat: Martin Heidegger" başlıklı biyografiydi. Yapısal olarak Kant'ın biyografisine çok benzemekle birlikte, buradaki felsefî tartışmaların daha yoğun olduğunu ve dönemin felsefî tartışmalarına verilen yerin de daha fazla olduğunu söyleyebilirim. Bu kitabı daha büyük bir zevkle okudum, çünkü anlattığı felsefî sorunlar ve bu felsefî sorunlarla bir ilişki ve etkileşim içinde Heidegger'in hayatının ilerleyişini, hikâyenin içinde kendimden de pek çok şey bularak ve merakla takip ettim. Fakat bu kitabı da daha sonra devam etmek üzere yarım bıraktım.

Bugün ise İletişim yayınlarına gittim. Bir süredir Dostoyevski ve Tolstoy'un eserlerini almak istiyordum. Bunlara ilave olarak almak istediğim bazı yeni kitaplar da vardı. Bu yeni kitapların başında ise yine bir biyografi vardı: Antonio Gramsci biyografisi. Kitap aslında yeni değil; orjinali 1989 yılında yayınlanmış, fakat Türkçe'si İletişim yayınlarından daha henüz çıktı. (Temmuz 2009). Giuseppe Fiori tarafından yazılmış kitap "Antonio Gramsci: Bir Devrimcinin Yaşamı" başlığını taşıyor. 340 sayfalık kitabın henüz 80'inci sayfasındayım, ama bu ana kadar okuduklarımdan hareketle söyleyebileceklerim şunlar: Birincisi, kitabın çevirisi gayet güzel. Çok rahat okunur bir dile sahip. ikincisi, 80'inci sayfaya kadar geldim, ama Gramsci henüz 20 yaşına gelebildi ve liseyi bitirmek üzere. Dolayısıyla bu ana kadar Gramsci'nin doğduğu Sardunya'da, liseyi okuduğu Cagliari'de ve genel olarak İtalya'da yaşanan siyasal ve toplumsal olaylar anlatıldı. Belki de kitabın bu ana kadar kolay ve hızlı okunabilmesini sağlayn etkenlerden biri de buydu; yani henüz felsefî tartışmalara geçemedik! :) Son olarak da şunu söyleyebilirim: kitap, Gramsci ile ilgilenenler için güzel bir kaynak. Yoğun akademik okumalarınızdan sıkıldığınızda bu tür biyografiler hem dinlendirici, hem de ele aldıkları kişilerin ilginç hayatlarıyla ve fikri maceralarıyla oldukça zihin açıcı oluyorlar. En azından benim için öyle! :)

Marx and Hegemony

2009-07-29T13:19:00.005+03:00

Last semester, I took a course titled as Continental Political Thought. In that course, we read three of Marx's articles as well which are On the Jewish Question, Theses on Feuerbach ve The German Ideology. In one of the articles, The German Ideology, I came across a paragraph in which Marx was talking about the concept of hegemony, and I thought that it would be useful to add it here. I think it is a good text through which one can develop an idea about the similarities and differences between the Marx's and Gramsci's usage of the concept of hegemony. Actually there are one or two articles which talk about the origins of the concept of hegemony, but I don't remember that they were referring to that paragraph from The German Ideology.

"For each new class which puts itself in the place of one ruling before it, is compelled merely in order to carry through its aim, to represent its interest as the common interest of all the members of society, that is, expressed in ideal form: it has to give its ideas the form of universality, and represent them as the only rational, universally valid ones. The class making a revolution appears from the very start, if only because it is opposed to a classs, not as a class but as the representative of the whole of society; it appears as the whole mass of society confronting the one ruling class. It can do this because, to start with, its interest really is more connected with the common interest of all other non-ruling classes, because under the pressure of hitherto existing conditions its interest has not yet been able to develop as the particular interest of a particular class. Its victory, therefore, benefits also many individuals of the other classes which are not winning a dominant position, but only insofar as it now puts these individuals in a position to raise themselves into the ruling class. When the French bourgeoisie overthrew the power of the aristocracy, it thereby made it possible for many proletarians to raise themselves above the proletariat, but only insofar as they became bourgeois. Every new class, therefore, achieves its hegemony only on a broader basis than that of the class ruling previously, whereas the opposition of the non-ruling class against the new ruling class later develops all the more sharply and profoundly. Both these things determine the fact that the struggle to be waged against this new ruling class, in its turn, aims at a more decided and radical negation of the previous conditions of society than could all previous classes which sought to rule. This whole semblance, that the rule of a certain class is only the rule of certain ideas, comes to a natural end, of course, as soon as class rule in general ceases to be the form in which society is organized, that is to say, as soon as it is no longer necessary to represent a particular interest as general or the 'general interest' as ruling." (p. 174)

Stephen Gill's Website

2009-05-18T17:22:00.008+03:00

I received a nice email today. It says that Stephen Gill has started running a personal website. On the website, you can find Gill's biography, a list of his publications and contact information. In addition to these, there is also a News section from which you can read Gill's commentaries about various events.

http://www.stephengill.com/

Antonio Gramsci, Hapishane Defterleri

2009-04-17T20:04:00.006+03:00

Today I went to a bookstore and came across a new translation of an old book. The book I am talking about is Gramsci's "Prison Notebooks" - Hapishane Defterleri in Turkish. It was published in Turkish before (Belge Yayinlari, 2003); however I think it ran out of print and was not easily found in the bookstores. Looking from this way, I think it is good that the book is published now by another publisher in Turkey. The name of the company is Aşina Kitaplar which is located in Ankara. They also have a website address. You can access to the book from this link. If you want to buy the book from internet, you can do it from various websites.

I haven't started reading the book yet, therefore I cannot comment on its language and whether the translation is good or not. Apart from the language issue, I should mention that there is a chapter at the beginning of the book, Introduction to Gramsci, that is written by the publishers, I think. Under this title, various important concepts, such as hegemony, war of movement, transformismo, passive revolution, etc., in the Gramscian thought have been briefly explained. Such an introduction chapter, I think, will be very useful for the readers who are going Gramsci for the first time.

Uluslararasi Iliskiler Teorisi Kitaplari

2009-03-23T12:16:00.008+02:00

Bu girdi, Gramsci veya neo-gramscian teori ile dogrudan ilgili degil. Burada yapmak istedigim, uluslararasi iliskiler teorisi uzerine yazilmis birkac kitap uzerinden basit bir-iki karsilastirma yapmak. Bunu yaparken de, temelde, uluslararasi iliskiler teorisi (bundan sonra uit olarak yazacagim.) dersini iki farkli ulkede, iki farkli anlayista ve iki farkli kitaptan almis olmamdan gelen kucuk birikimimi kullanacagim. :)

Ilk uit dersimi Isvec'te yuksek lisansimi yaparken almistim. Isvec'in genel olarak kita avrupasi ekolune yakinliginin yani sira, elestirel teorilerle olan hasir nesirligi de uit dersinin hazirlanmasinda, sunulmasinda ve ders materyallerinin secilmesinde onemli etkilerde bulunmustur denilebilir. Ornegin bu derste biz Andrew Linklater ve Scott Burchill'in editorlugunu yaptigi, Theories of International Relations baslikli kitabi temel kaynak olarak okumustuk. Diger makale, vs. turunden materyaller ise ilave kaynaklardi. Bu kitap oncelikle teoriye ve tabii ki ui teorisine iliskin bazi genel aciklamalarla basliyor; yani teori nedir, ui teorisi nedir, nelerle ugrasir, ui disiplininin kurulusu ve gelisimi hakkinda tarihsel arkaplan bilgileri, vs. veriyor. Daha sonra ise ui alanindaki teorileri tek tek ele alip inceliyor. Kitabin farkliligi ve ozgunlugu de tabii ki ele aldigi teorilerin cesitliliginden kaynaklaniyor. Realism, Liberalism ve Marxism uclemesinin disinda, kitap 5 teoriye daha yer veriyor. Bunlar, English School, Critical Theory, Postmodernism, Constructivism, Feminism ve Green Politics.

Birincisi bircok uit kitabinda bu teorilerin bircoguna rastlayamazsiniz. Ozellikle Green Politics'i ayri bir ui teorisi olarak ele alan giris turunden teori kitaplari bulmak, benim bildigim kadariyla, zordur. Genel giris kitaplari ui teorisine iliskin olarak genellikle uclu bir siniflandirma yaparlar. Bu uclu siniflandirmada Realism ana akim teoridir, Liberalism ondan sonra gelir, Marxism ise elestirel ya da biraz daha uc tabirle radikal olarak nitelendirilir. Bu siniflandirmada teoriler arasinda bir hiyerarsi kurulur ve tabii ki guc dengesi de Realism > Liberalism > Marxism seklinde sunulur.

Bu kitabin ikinci onemli ozelligi ise tam da bu noktada ortaya cikiyor. Kitap, realism'i kose tasi veya ana akim olarak bir tarafta tutup, digerlerini de toplu bir sekilde diger tarafa koymuyor. Yani herhangi bir baska kitapta Realism bir tarafta sunulup, diger tarafta da Critical Theory, Feminism, Green Politics hatta Postmodernism teorilerinin hepsi tek bir baslik altinda, mesela Critical IR Theories, toplanabilir. Su denilebilir ki, bu kitap ise daha ziyade butun teoriler arasinda farkli bir gucler dengesi kurmaya calisiyor. Fakat burada da dikkatlerden kacirilmamasi gereken nokta, kitabin, teoriler arasindaki bu gucler dengesini, Realism karsiti denilebilecek grubun lehine olacak sekilde kurmayi tercih etmesi. Yani bu teorilerin hepsine tek tek ve ayri teoriler olarak deger ve yer verdiginizde tabii ki onlari realism ile esdegerde goruyorsunuz ve okuyucuya da bu imaji, bu zihinsel tasarimi vermeye calisiyorsunuz. Bu da kitabin ve editorlerinin kendi tercihleri tabii ki. Elestirilebilir, ama saygi duymak lazim.

Kitapla ilgili olarak soyleyebilecegim son husus ise Liberalism denilen teorinin, ya da bakis acisinin ismiyle ilgili. Simdilerde daha ziyade liberalism dedigimiz bu bakis acisina oncelerde utopianism ya da idealism deniyordu. (Bkz. E.H. Carr, The Twenty Years' Crisis) Utopianism ve idealism kavramlari ise tabii ki kendilerinde kucumseyici cagrisimlari barindiriyordu. Linklater ve Burchill'in editorlugunu yaptigi kitap bu anlamda da daha notr denilebilecek olan kavrami, yani Liberalism'i tercih ediyor; bu da olumlu bir durum denilebilir.

Ui teorisi dersini, su anda ikinci kez ve baska bir universitede aliyorum. Temel kaynaklar olarak iki kitabi okuyoruz. Bunlar James E. Dougherty'nin, Contending Theories of International Relations ve Paul R. Viotti'nin International Relations Theory baslikli kitaplari.

Viotti'nin kitabi temelde yukarida ifade ettigim uclu ayrima gore kurgulanmis. Teorileri genel cerceveler (images) olarak ele aliyor ve bu baglamda da ui'de uc temel cercevenin oldugunu soyluyor. Bunlar realism, pluralism ve globalism. Realism bildigimiz realism. Pluralism ise liberalism'in yerine kullaniliyor; globalism ise genel olarak marxism'den tureyen teorileri ifade etmek icin kullaniliyor. Bunlar disinda, bu kitabin da basinda genel olarak teori, ui teorisi, ui disiplininin gelisimi hakkinda bilgiler mevcut tabii ki. Ayrica bu uc cerceveden bahsedildikten sonra, bir de normative ui teorisi hakkindaki gelismelerden de bahsedilmis. Kitapta son olarak da ui teorisinin gelecegine iliskin bazi tartismalar yapilmis.

Dougherty'nin kitabinin ise daha ilginc bir yapisi var. Konu basliklari itibariyle daha ziyade realist paradigmanin tartisma konularini iceriyormus gibi gorunuyor; mesela the older theories of conflict and war, microcosmic theories of violent conflict, macrocosmic theories of violent conflict, theories of deterrence, arms control, strategic stability. Fakat bunun yani sira liberalisme iliskin konular da az da olsa var; mesela theories of international cooperation and integration, decision-making theories. Son olarak diger paradigmaya (elestirel teori, marxism ne derseniz deyin) ise sadece bir bolum ayrilmis; bu da international political economy basligi altinda incelenmis. Bu temel kaynaklarin disinda, realist ekolun kurucularindan, hatta kurucusu, Hans Morgenthau'nun klasik eserini, Politics Among Nations, okuyoruz.

Son tahlilde sunlari soyleyebiliriz sanirim. Ui teorisi dersleri, derslerin islenis bicimleri, okutulan materyaller, farkli ui teorisi genel giris kitaplarinin bu teorileri anlatis bicimleri, farkli teorilere yer verisleri ya da vermeyisleri ui teorisi egitiminin onemli belirleyicilerinden. Hangi tur egilimlerin nerede, hangi okullarda daha dominant olacagini etkileyen bircok etken vardir, fakat sonucta bu genel surec icerisinde bu durumdan etkilenen en onemli ogeler tabii ki bizleriz: yani ogrenciler.

International Gramsci Journal

2009-01-16T12:47:00.006+02:00

Hello Everyone,

International Gramsci Journal has just published its first volume. In the "Articles" section of the Journal, there are in total five articles. Four of them are in English, and the other one is in Spanish. You can access to the articles through the links below.

Number 1 - 2008

1) Obituary for John Cammett: Organic Intellectual
Alastair Davidson

2) Gramsci, Class and Post-Marxism
Mike Donaldson

3) Contribuciones De Gramsci Al Cambio Social En Chile: De La Declinación De La Ideología Pos Moderna A La Re-Emergencia De La Izquierda
Rene Leal Hurtado

4) Antonio Gramsci and Fund of Knowledge: Organic Ethnographers of Knowledge in Workers' Centres
Joseph P. Zanoni

5) Security Intelligence and Left Intellectuals: Australia, 1970
Rowan Cahill

Book Reviews

1) Hegemony and Education. Gramsci, Post-Marxism and Radical Democracy Revisited Deb J. Hill, Lexington Books, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc, Lanham, Boulder, New York, Toronto, Plymouth, 2007

2) Del Gobierno del Pueblo a la Rebelión Popular: Historia del Partido Comunista 1970–1990. Francisco Herreros, Editorial Siglo xxi, Santiago, Chile, 2005.

New Links

2009-01-09T01:23:00.003+02:00

I added three new links to the "Links" section.

The first one is Gramsci Bibliography. From the search engine on this website, you can find information about everything that is written on Gramsci.

The second one is a website from Argentina. I think it's about how Gramsci and his thoughts are utilized in Argentina.

The third one is a personal blog, which belongs to Pedro de Marinho.

Gramsci, Genç Profesör ve Platone

2008-12-17T09:55:00.003+02:00

Bugün yine Gramsci’nin yazılarından yapılmış bir derleme kitabı, The Modern Prince and Other Writings, okuyordum. Kitabın Giriş kısmında anlatılan bir olay hoşuma gittiği için buraya da eklemek istedim. Hepimizin bildiği gibi, Gramsci Ordine Nuovo başlıklı bir gazete çıkarıyor. Kitapta yazdığına göre, Ordine Nuovo’nun Turin’deki ofisleri her çevreden işçilerin toplandığı ve Gramsci’yle işçi hareketinin genel sorunları hakkında konuştukları bir yermiş. Gramsci de bu kişisel etkileşimlere, hareketin başarısı bağlamında çok önem verirmiş. Bir tarafta, Fabrika Konseylerindeki liderliği ve siyasal arenadaki aktifliği ile politik bir lider, diğer tarafta da yayın hayatındaki aktifliği ile bir editör olarak bilinen Gramsci, Ordine Nuovo’nun ofislerinde işçilerle yüz yüze gerçekleştirdiği bu tartışmalar ve konuşmalar sayesinde aynı zamanda bir de kişisel bir rehber niteliğine sahip olmuştu. Bu yüz yüze görüşmelerinde dışında, kitapta yazdığına göre, Gramsci ülkenin dört bir yanındaki işçilerden yüzlerce mektup alırmış ve bunlara hiç üşenmeksizin oldukça ayrıntılı cevaplar yazarmış. Bu mektuplaşma sürecini Gramsci, hem işçilerden öğrenmek ve hem de onlara yardımcı olabilmenin çok önemli bir aracı olarak görürmüş. Buradan hareketle şimdi yukarıda bahsettiğim olayın anlatımına geçebilirim.

Gramsci’yle aynı ofiste çalışan Felice Platone’nin anlattığına göre, bir gün, genç bir üniversite hocası Gramsci’yi ziyaret eder. Platone bu kişiyi şöyle tanımlıyor: “Doğuştan gelen yeteneğiyle, herhangi bir zorlukla karşılaşmadan ve dudaklarında bir gülümseme ile her türlü soruyu cevaplandırabilecek, her konu hakkında fikir beyan edebilecek ve her itirazı saygısızlıkla reddedebilecek türden insanlardan biriydi.”

Daha sonra Platone olayı ve Gramsci ile bu genç üniversite hocası arasında geçen konuşmayı şöyle aktarıyor: “Gramsci’nin bu ziyaretçiyi fark edilmemesi imkânsız bir soğuklukla karşılaması, bende, biraz daha kalmam halinde vaktimi boşuna harcamış olmayacağım düşüncesini uyandırdı ve ben de dikkatlice masamın üzerindeki yığının arasında bir gazete aramaya ve birazdan başlayacak olan konuşmayı beklemeye başladım. Genç profesör işçilere yardımcı olmak istediğini, onları eğitmek istediğini, onlara bir şeyler öğretmek istediğini söyledi. Konuşmanın başından beri Gramsci sessizce durdu; gözlüklerini (?) bir takıp, bir çıkarıyordu. Gördüğüm kadarıyla artık sabrı tükenmek üzereydi. Sonra sakinleşti, bir kâğıt parçasını büyük bir dikkatle katlayıp açmakla meşgul olarak ve gözlerini kaldırmadan, adamı konuşmasının sonuna kadar dinledi. Profesör konuşmasını bitirdiğinde, Gramsci sanki hiç bir şey duymamış gibi ve sanki tamamen farklı şeyler düşünüyormuş gibi profesöre şu soruyu sordu:”

Gramsci: “Sizce, ateşi kullanmayı öğrendikten sonra insanın gerçekleştirdiği en önemli ve en yararlı gelişme neydi?”

Platone: “Diğer adamın (profesörün) şaşkınlıkla baktığını görünce devam etti:”

Gramsci: “Özür dilerim, ama bu, gerçekten, yeterince iyi değil. Fakat söyleyin bana, kaç yıldır okulda işçilerle berabersiniz?”

Profesör: “Aslında ben hiçbir zaman bir işçi olmak istemedim…”

Gramsci: “Kastettiğim bu değil. Sizce, bir entelektüel olarak nitelendirilmeye kim daha layıktır: birtakım bağlantılı bağlantısız bilgileri ve fikirleri depolayan ve kendi işinden başka hiçbir şeyi bilmeyen bir öğretmen, hatta bir profesör mü; ya da ilerlemenin ve gelecekteki dünyanın nasıl olması gerektiği ile ilgili net bir fikre sahip olan ve bu fikir etrafında edinebildiklerini koordineli bir şekilde organize edebilen bir işçi, hatta kültürsüz bir işçi mi?”

Profesör: “Ama ben Marksizm’i çok iyi biliyorum. Daha da ötesi, Marksizm’i idealist bir temele oturttum.”

Platone: “Bu kadarı Gramsci için yetmişti. Birkaç dakika sonra profesör, sanki sihirli bir şey olmuş gibi, bütün ilgisini kaybetti ve yaralanmış gururunu göstermek istemeyen bir insanın ses tonuyla şunları söyleyerek gitti: “Onun, işçilerden öğrenme hakkındaki tavsiyelerini düşüneceğim.”

Antonio Gramsci, The Modern Prince and Other Writings, s. 15.

Gramsci’nin, bu genç üniversite profesörüyle yapmış olduğu konuşmadaki fikirlerini daha gelişmiş bir şekilde hapishanede yazdığı defterlerde, “The Study of Philosophy and of Historical Materialism” veya “The Formation of Intellectuals” başlıklı yazılarında da görebiliyoruz. Orada da felsefenin çok zor bir şey olduğu noktasındaki genel kanaatleri kırmaya çalışan Gramsci, son tahlilde herkesin entelektüel olduğunu söylüyordu.

Gramsci'nin Son Mektubu

2008-11-03T19:06:00.001+02:00

Uzun zamandır bloga birşey eklemedim. Belki de uzun zamandır Gramsci ile ilgili yeni birşeyler okumuyor olmamdan dolayıdır bu. Bilemiyorum. Bugün kütüphaneden yeni bir kitap aldım ve okumaya başladım. Kitabın adı, The Modern Prince and Other Writings ve Gramsci'nin yazdığı çeşitli yazılardan oluşan bir derleme niteliğinde. Kitabın kapağını çevirdiğinizde, Gramsci'nin ölümünden kısa bir süre önce ve büyük Oğlu Delio'ya yazdığı mektubu görebiliyorsunuz. Hayatının son zamanlarını yaşayan bir mücadele insanının oğluna verdiği son öğütleri, bence şimdi onu okuyanlar, onun felsefesi üzerinde çalışanlar da kendilerine verilmiş öğütler olarak alabilirler. Metnin güzel olduğunu düşündüğüm için buraya aynen eklemek istedim.

"I am feeling a bit tired and cannot write a lot. Write to me always, and tell me about everything that interests you at school. I think you like history, just as I did when I was your age, because it is about living men. And everything that is about men, as many men as possible, all the men in the world united among themselves in societies, working and struggling and bettering themselves must please you more than any other thing."

Laura Ruberto: Bir Kitap ve Blog

2008-09-06T21:17:00.005+03:00

Geçtiğimiz gün Laura Ruberto'dan bir mail aldım. Kendisi Berkeley City College'da öğretim görevlisi. Google'da arama yaparken benim bloguma rastlamış, kendisinin ismini bloga eklediğimi görmüş ve bir mail atmaya karar vermiş. Mailinde hem bunun için teşekkür etmiş, hem de bir kitabından ve bir de düzenli olarak yazdığı blogundan bahsetmiş. Ben de bu vesileyle bu kaynakları da burada tanıtayım istedim.

Kitabı göç ve kadın işçiliği hakkında. Bizim açımızdan ilgi çeken tarafı ise, Ruberto'nun meseleyi Gramscian bir bakış açısıyla incelemiş olması. Kitabın tam ismi, "Gramsci, Migration and the Representation of Women's work in Italy and the U.S."

Ayrıca kitapla ilgili olarak şu siteye de bakabilirsiniz.

Son olarak Laura Ruberto'nun blogunu takip etmek isteyenler için adresi de vereyim.

http://www.i-italy.org/bloggers/raccogli-e-passa

Gramsci Video

2008-08-16T07:22:00.001+03:00

Youtube'da Gramsci felsefesi hakkinda Ingilizce bir video bulmaya calistim, ama bulamadim. Sonunda onun hayatini ve yasadigi donemi resimlerle anlatmaya calisan bu videoyu (yine de Ingilizce degil tabii) siteye eklemeye karar verdim. Umarim begenirsiniz.

Gramsci Filmi

2008-08-15T13:52:00.001+03:00

Gramsci Filmi

2008-08-15T13:48:00.005+03:00

Bugun youtube ve video.google'da Gramsci'nin hayati, felsefesi hakkinda videolar ariyordum. Ne yazik ki Ingilizce hicbir sey bulamadim, fakat ararken gercekten cok ilginc bir videoya rastladim: Gramsci'nin hayatini anlatan Italyanca bir filme! :) Filmin Ispanyolca (ya da Portekizce de olabilir belki) altyazisi da var. :) Tabii anlayabilenlere.

Izlemek isteyenler icin filmi bloga ekledim.

Hegemony Research Group

2008-08-01T17:12:00.005+03:00

I talked about the Hegemony Research Group in Wollongong University, Australia before. However, I have just noticed that the papers of the two workshops that were organized in this Research Group have been uploaded to their website. By clicking on the links below, you can access to the full-texts of the papers that were presented in these workshops.

As far as I can see, there are two workshops that were organized until now. These are;

1) Hegemony: Explorations into Consensus, Coercion and Culture

2) Class: History, Formations and Conceptualisations

Also, for those who are interested, here is the website of the Hegemony Research Group

Gramsci Links Archive

2008-08-01T16:48:00.004+03:00

Merhaba,

Bugün siteyi ziyaret edenlerin kimler olduğuna bakarken güzel bir sürprizle karşılaştım. Sitemi, Gramsci Links Archive adlı siteye, Gramsci hakkındaki Türkçe kaynak sitesi olarak eklemişler. Sitede genel olarak Gramsci ile ilgili linklere, makalelere, kitaplara, sitelere, vs. yer veriliyor. Sevindim. :)

Gramsci Website

2008-07-30T15:24:00.003+03:00

Tekrar Merhaba,

Bugün bir site buldum. Oldukça güzel bir site. Kanada'da, McMaster Üniversitesinde, Sosyoloji bölümünde profesör olan Carl Cuneo'nun sitesi. Gramscian teorideki 4-5 kavramın, Gramsci tarafından farklı kullanımlarının bir listesini çıkarmış. Resimli, şemalı vs. tablolar hazırlamış. :) Güzel bir çalışma olmuş bence.

http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/soc/courses/soc2r3/gramsci/gramindx.htm

İlgililere duyurulur,
Feyzullah

International Gramsci Journal

2008-07-30T13:56:00.004+03:00

Merhaba...

Bugün mail aracılığıyla güzel bir haber aldım. Yeni bir dergi kurulmuş, ki bence böyle bir dergiye ihtiyaç vardı. Derginin adı, International Gramsci Journal. Dergi, International Gramsci Society'nin elektronik dergisi olarak işlev görecek ve yılda iki sayı olarak çıkacak. Dergiye İngilizce, İtalyanca ve İspanyolca yazılar gönderilebilecek. Derginin ilk sayısı Kasım 2008'de çıkacakmış ve bununla ilgili olarak da makalelerin en geç 30 Ağustos 2008'e kadar dergiye gönderilmesi gerekiyormuş. Derginin adresini sağ tarafta bulunan "gramsci ile ilgili linkler" kısmına ekledim, fakat buraya da yazayım.

http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/research/gramsci-journal/index.html

Bilginize...

Hegemonya Teorisinin Sınırları

2008-07-01T18:38:00.000+03:00

Merhaba Arkadaşlar,

Gramsci'yle yatıp, Gramsci'yle kalkıyoruz, ama Horkheimer'ın "Geleneksel Teori & Eleştirel Teori" ayrımından haberdar olan bizlerin, Gramsci'ye de ara sıra "eleştirel" bakmasında yarar vardır sanırım. :)

Geçen gün bir arkadaşım bana bir soru sordu... Sonra ben de düşündüm, dedim ki bunu bloga da yazayım; belki blogun okuyucularından bazı arkadaşlar, bu konuyla ilgili görüşlerini ifade ederler, biz de bunlardan birşeyler öğreniriz.

Sorumuz şu: "Hegemonya kavramının/teorisinin sınırları nedir? Hegemonya'yı hangi durumlarda kullanmak/uygulamak yararlıdır ve hangi durumlarda uygulamada sorunlarla karşılaşırız?"

Yani kısaca, hegemonya kavramı/teorisi nerede işe yarar, nerede yaramaz? :)

Her türlü yorumunuzun, katkınızın, eleştirinizin, konuya bağlı olarak kitap ve makale tavsiyenizin başımızın üstünde yeri var; bekliyoruz. :)

ODTÜ'de Konferans: Kees van der Pijl

2008-06-21T21:37:00.000+03:00

Merhaba...

ODTÜ'deki konferansa gitmeyi planladığımı daha önceden yazmıştım. Dinlemeyi düşündüğüm 3-4 hoca vardı, fakat ne yazık ki diğer bazı acil işlerim dolayısıyla dinlemek istediğim hocalardan sadece birini dinleyebildim: Kees van der Pijl.

Van der Pijl Balkanlar, Kafkaslar ve Orta Asya çerçevesinde küresel rekabete ilişkin olarak bir sunum yaptı. Sunumun giriş kısmı, ki epey uzundu aslında, daha ziyade Van der Pijl'in kendi bakış açısını ve teorik kavramlarını - Lockeian State, Hobbesian State, Contender State, Hegemony vs. - kullanarak kapitalist dünya-sistemin ortaya çıkışını ve gelişimini anlatmasıyla geçti. Burada Van der Pijl kısaca bu tarihsel süreci anlattı ve meseleyi günümüze getirmeye çalıştı diyebiliriz. Günümüzün contender state'leri olarak Rusya ve Çin'den bahseden Pijl, bu ülkelerin katılımına bağlı olarak Balkanlar, Kafkaslar ve Orta Asya çerçevesinde yoğunlaşarak artan küresel rekabetten bahsetti.

Sunumunun sonunda, yeni dönemdeki hegemonyanın türünden bahsederken bir ayrıma gitti ve hegemonyayı iki farklı şekilde tanımladı. Birinci tür hegemonya olarak, Gramscian anlamda hepimizin bildiği rıza ve baskı bileşkesinden oluşan hegemonya türünden bahsedebileceğimizi söyledi, fakat buna ek olarak bir de korkuya dayalı hegemonyadan bahsetti. Bu ikinci hegemonya kavramı, daha sonra dinleyicilerden birisi tarafından soru-cevap kısmında eleştirildi, çünkü soruyu soran kişi korkuya dayalı bir yönetimi hegemonya olarak nitelendiremeyeceğimizi düşünüyordu. Bu eleştirisine ben de katıldım açıkçası. Van der Pijl ise bu ayrımı asıl olarak 11 Eylül sonrası dünyada ABD'nin yönetimi ile ilişkilendirmek için yaptı. Pijl'e göre, 11 Eylül sonrası dönem, eskiden farklı olarak, ABD tarafından korkuya dayalı olarak sürdürülen yeni bir hegemonik düzeni ifade ediyordu. Bu bağlamda da Pijl, pek de beklemediğim bir şekilde, 11 Eylül'ü bu korkuya dayalı hegemonik düzene ilginç bir şekilde bağladı ve 11 Eylül'ün bu düzenin kurulabilmesinde ABD'ye imkân sağlamış olduğunu söyledi. Bu çerçevede de, 11 Eylül'ün "düzmece" olduğuna yönelik komplo teorilerinin pek de yabana atılmaması gerektiğini ifade etti. Bu görüşü, soru-cevap kısmında Alex Callinicos tarafından hemen eleştirildi.

Sunum sonrasında ben de Van der Pijl'in yanına gittim ve tanıştım. Beklediğim gibi biri çıktı diyebilirim. Biraz doktoradan, Sussex'ten ve çalışmayı düşündüğüm konudan bahsettik. On dakika kadar bir konuşmadan sonra ayrıldık.

Siteye Katkı

2008-06-12T17:25:00.000+03:00

Herkese Merhaba,

Siteyi geçtiğimiz aylarda kurdum ve o günden bu güne de sürekli olarak elimden geldiği kadarıyla sitenin içeriğini genişletmeye çalışıyorum. Bu süreçte sağ tarafta bulunan linkleri arttırmaya çalıştım. Görebileceğiniz gibi sağ tarafta dört farklı link bölümü bulunuyor. Bunlardan birincisinde Gramsci ile ilgili yayınları bulabiliyorsunuz. İkincisinde internette yayınlanmış metinlerin adresleri var. Üçüncüsü, Gramsci ile ilgili linkleri içerirken, dördüncüsü de Gramscian teori hakkında çalışan Türkiye'den ve dünyadan akademisyenlerin linklerini içeriyor. Bunların araştırmasını google'de, rastladığım kitaplarda vs. yaptım ve yapmaya da devam ediyorum ve umarım bu linklerdeki akademisyenler, kitap isimleri, okunabilir makaleler vs. birilerine faydalı oluyordur. Eğer siz de bir şekilde listede olmayan bir Gramscian akademisyene, kitaba, makaleye vs. rastlarsanız, lütfen bana Yorum kısmından yazarak ulaşın, ben de onları listeye ekleyebileyim. Bu şekilde listenin genişlemesine sizin de bir katkınız olmuş olur.

Şimdiden teşekkürler,
Feyzullah

ODTÜ'de Konferans: Hegemony or Empire? Prospects for Contemporary World Order

2008-06-09T15:42:00.000+03:00

Önümüzdeki günlerde (18-20 Haziran) ODTÜ'de uluslararası bir konferans düzenlenecek. Konferansın başlığı "Hegemony or Empire? Prospects for Contemporary World Order".

Konferansa, benim de özel olarak takip ettiğim birkaç önemli akademisyen katılacak. Eğer bu siteyi takip ediyorsanız, sanırım bu isimler zaten sizin de bildiğiniz isimlerdir. İsimlerden birincisi Alex Callinicos. Kendisini Marksist sosyal teori yazılarıyla biliyorum. Bir tane de kitabını okumuştum: "Making History: Agency, Structure and Change in Social Theory".

İkinci isim Kees van der Pijl. Sussex Üniversitesi'nde görevine devam ediyor. "Transnational Classes and International Relations" isimli kitabını okumuştum. Avrupa Entegrasyonu, Neo-Gramscian vs. bakış açıları ile ilgili önemli bir akademisyen. Üçüncü kişi yine Sussex Üniversitesi'nden Julian Saurin. Bu hocanın da, Türkiye'den Sussex'e giden öğrencilerden birçoğuna tez danışmanlığı yaptığını gördüm. O da Kees van der Pijl ile benzer konularda çalışıyor diyebiliriz. Türk hocalardan ise Fuat Keyman ve Pınar Bilgin dinlemeyi istiyorum. Son olarak Neo-Gramscianism ile ilgili olmasa da beğendiğim bir hoca olarak Ahmet Davutoğlu'nu da dinlemeyi düşünüyorum.

Konferansla ilgili ayrıntılı bilgilere, tarihlere ve konferans programına şu adresten ulaşabilirsiniz: http://www.ir.metu.edu.tr/conf/

Birkaç Yeni Yayın

2008-05-18T15:45:00.001+03:00

Merhaba... Sizlere bu yazıda birkaç yeni (Neo)Gramscian yayından bahsedeceğim.

Birinci yayınımız Türkçe bir makale. Bu makaleyi, internette öylesine arama yaparken buldum. Makale, Sabancı Üniversitesi, Siyaset Bilimi doktora öğrencilerinden Hasret Dikici Bilgin'e ait. Kendisine özel olarak bir mail attım ve makaleye bakıp bakamayacağımı sordum, fakat henüz bir cevap alamadım. CV'sinde yazdığına göre makale yakında Routledge yayınevinden yayınlanacak bir kitap içerisinde yer alacak. Sanırım, kitap çıktığında siz de makaleye ulaşabilirsiniz. Gramscian teoriyi özellikle Türkiye bağlamında merak edenler için güzel bir makale olduğunu düşünüyorum.

Hasret Dikici Bilgin, "Civil Society and State in Turkey: A Gramscian Perspective", in Gramsci and Global Politics: Hegemony and Resistance, edited by J. Schwarzmantel and M. McNally, Routledge.

İkinci yayınımız Türkçe'de gerçekten ihtiyaç duyulduğuna inandığımız bir çalışma. Çalışmanın sahibi Gazi Üniversitesi, Uluslararası İlişkiler bölümünden Prof. Dr. Burcu Bostanoğlu. Çalışma, Neo-Gramscian teorinin kurucusu olarak kabul edilen Robert W. Cox'un teorisini açıklayan bir kitap. Bu çalışma ile uluslararası ilişkiler öğrencileri Robert W. Cox'la ilgili olarak önemli bir Türkçe kaynağa ulaşmış olacaklar. Kitap hakkında Burcu Bostanoğlu'nun kişisel sayfasında bir bilgi yok. Gazi Kitabevi de sanırım üniversitenin kitabevi, o yüzden kitap hakkında herhangi bir bilgiye oradan da ulaşamadım. Belki de en iyisi Burcu hocanın kendisine bir mail atmak ve kitabı nereden temin edebileceğimizi sormaktır.

Burcu Bostanoğlu, Uluslararası İlişkilerde Eleştirel Kuram, Hegemonya, Medeniyetler: Robert W. Cox (Mehmet A. Okur ile birlikte, Gazi Kitabevi, 2007)

Üçüncü yayınımız ingilizce bir kitap. Kasım 2008'de çıkacağı ilan edilmiş kitap, söylendiğine göre, Neo-Gramscian teorinin eleştirisine de yer veriyor.

Alison J. Ayers, Gramsci, Political Economy, and International Relations Theory: Modern Princes and Naked Emperors, Palgrave Macmillan.

Son yayınımız ise yine ingilizce bir kitap. Burcu Bostanoğlu'nun kitabına benzer bir kitap 2009'da ingilizce olarak yayınlanacakmış. Kitap, Robert W. Cox'un teorisini ele alıyor ve eminim güzel bir kaynak kitap olacaktır.

Anthony Leysens, The Critical Theory of Robert W. Cox, Palgrave Macmillan.

Tarihsel Blok Nedir?

2008-05-08T15:46:00.000+03:00

“Tarihsel blok materyal güçler, kurumlar ve ideolojiler arasındaki tarihsel bir birlikteliği ifade eder, ya da daha geniş olarak, kurucu unsurlarına tutarlılık ve stratejik bir hedef veren hegemonik fikirler bütünü etrafında siyasi olarak örgütlenmiş, farklı sınıfsal güçlerin ittifakını ifade eder. Buna ilaveten, yeni bir tarihsel blokun doğması için, onun liderlerinin bilinçli olarak planlanmış bir mücadele içerisinde olmaları gerekir. Her yeni tarihsel blok, sivil toplum ve ekonomi alanında sadece güce ihtiyaç duymaz, bundan ayrı olarak kendisinin siyasal sistemini ve yönetimini kuran, sürdüren ve geliştiren ikna edici fikirlere, argümanlara ve girişimlere de ihtiyacı vardır.”[1]

[1] Stephen Gill, Power and Resistance in the New World Order, Palgrave Publications, 2003, P. 58.

Robert W. Cox

2008-04-22T21:10:00.000+03:00

Robert W. Cox, Neo-Gramscianism’in kurucusu olarak kabul edilir. 1980’li yıllarda yayınladığı seminer niteliğindeki iki makalesiyle, [ 1) “Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory”, in Millennium 10 (1981) ve 2) “Gramsci, Hegemony and International Relations: An Essay in Method”, published in Millennium 12 (1983) ] Gramscian teorinin, uluslar arası sistemi açıklamada da kullanılabileceğini çok güzel bir şekilde ortaya koymuştur. Bu makaleleri Millennium dergisinde ya da kendisinin daha sonra yaptığı ve bazı önemli makaleleri topladığı kitabında, Approaches to World Order, bulabilirsiniz. Sadece bu iki makaleyi okumakla dahi, Neo-Gramscianism’i anlama noktasında büyük bir mesafe katetmiş olursunuz. Bu makalelerin dışında Robert W. Cox uluslar arası ilişkiler literatürüne en büyük katkıyı, kendisinin magnum opus’u olarak bilinen, Power, Production and World Order: Social Forces in the Making of History başlıklı kitabı ile yapmıştır diyebiliriz. Kitabında Cox öncelikle uluslar arası sistemi analiz noktasında kendi teorisini geliştiriyor ve daha sonra da bu teorisini farklı dönemlere (İngiliz hegemonyası, Amerikan hegemonyası ve soğuk savaş sonrası dönem) uygulayarak teorisinin açıklama ve anlama yeteneklerini gösteriyor.

Robert W. Cox’la birlikte uluslar arası ilişkileri analiz etmede literatüre yeni kavramlar kazandırılmıştır, örneğin karşı-hegemonya, tarihsel-blok, transformismo, war of position, war of movement, vs. Cox’un kendi yaptığı çalışmaların ötesinde uluslar arası ilişkiler disiplinine yapmış olduğu en büyük katkılardan birisi de arkasında kendisinden ilham alan onlarca yeni akademisyen bırakmış olmasıdır diyebiliriz. Onun açtığı yolda, ardından daha birçok akademisyen gelmiş ve Neo-Gramscian ekolün daha da genişletilmesi, derinleştirilmesi ve geliştirilmesi çerçevesinde önemli katkılarda bulunmuşlardır. Bunlardan bazıları da önceki yazılarımızda kendilerinden bahsettiğimiz Andreas Bieler, Mustapha Kamal-Pasha’dır. Daha bahsetmediğimiz çok akademisyen var tabii ki, mesela Stephen R. Gill, Adam David Morton, Kees van der Pijl, Mark Rupert, Otto Hollman, vs.. İleride vakit buldukça onlardan da ileriki yazılarımızda bahsetmeye devam edeceğiz tabii ki. Geçtiğimiz yıllarda York Üniversitesi’ndeki görevinden emekliye ayrılan Cox, artık vaktinin tamamını yeni çalışmalara adamış bulunuyor. Kendisiyle yaptığım bazı yazışmalarda bana, artık yeni doktora öğrencisi almadığını ve bundan sonra hayatının geri kalanını yazmak istediği konuları yazarak geçireceğini söylemişti.

Son çalışmalarında artık medeniyet düzleminde yazılar yazmaya başlayan Cox, son dönemde uluslararası ilişkiler disiplininde rağbet gören medeniyet söylemine de el atıyor ve kendi teorik bakış açısından birarada yaşama, medeniyetlerin birarada yaşayabilmesi vs. gibi konulardaki görüşlerini ortaya koyuyor. Bu bağlamda çıkarmış olduğu son kitap ise The Political Economy of a Plural World: Critical Reflections on Power, Morals and Civilization isimli.

Yeni Bir Kitap

2008-04-11T13:39:00.000+03:00

Gramscian teori çerçevesinde Routledge yayınlarından yeni bir kitap yayınlanmış. Bu arada kısa bir not. Routledge zaten bu konuda önemli bir yayınevi. Andreas Bieler'in ve Adam Morton'ın bazı kitaplarını da onlar yayınladılar.

Yayınlanan yeni kitaba dönersek, kitap Gramscian teorinin en önemli kavramlarından birisi olan hegemonya hakkında. Kitapta hegemonya kavramının sosyal teori, siyaset teorisi, kültürel teori gibi alanlardaki uyarlamalarına yer verilmiş. Ayrıca küreselleşme, gender gibi konularda da bazı yazılar var.

Kitap 2005 yılında, Avustralya'da, University of Wollongong bünyesinde yer alan Hegemony Research Group adlı bir workshop'ta yapılan çalışmaların genişletilmiş bir versiyonu. Kitabın editörleri Richard Howson ve Kylie Smith.

Kitabın içeriği ile ilgili bazı bilgilere aşağıdaki başlığa tıklayarak ulaşabilirsiniz.

Hegemony: Studies in Consensus and Coercion

Mustapha Kamal-Pasha

2008-03-03T17:43:00.000+02:00

Mustapha Kamal Pasha Neo-Gramscian literatürdeki önemli akademisyenlerden biridir. Kamal Pasha’yi diger Neo-Gramscian akademisyenlerden ayiran önemli özelliklerden birisi, onun özel olarak çalistigi alanla ilgilidir diyebiliriz. Kendisi genel olarak Islam Dünyasi, özelde de Güney Asya ile ilgilenmektedir. Bu baglamda Kamal Pahsa, diger Neo-Gramscian akademisyenlerden farkli olarak, teoriyi genel olarak Islam Dünyasi’na, özel olarak da Güney Asya bölgesine uygulamaya çalismaktadir. (Orn: Out From Underdevelopment Revisited: Changing Global Structures and the Remaking of the Third World (with James H. Mittelman). Macmillan, 1997.)

Kamal Pasha’nin bir diger teorik arkaplani ise "Islamî" diyebilecegimiz bir kaynaktan beslenmektedir ki, bu da onun ikinci ayirt edici özelligi olarak ifade edilebilir. Bu baglamda da Kamal Pasha’nin “Islam and International Relations” türünden sunumlari ve makaleleri vardir. (Orn: “Fractured Worlds: Islam, Identity, and International Relations.” Global Society: Journal of Interdisciplinary International Relations, 17 (April 2003): 111-120.)

Islam’la ilgili olarak daha özel de ise kendisinin Ibn-i Haldun ile ilgili bazi çalismalari vardir. Özel olarak günümüz dünyasina Ibn-i Haldun’un teorisini uyarlamaya çalistigi bazi arastirmalari vardir. (Orn: “Ibn Khaldun and World Order” in refereed book Innovation and Transformation in International Relations Theory edited by Stephen Gill and James H. Mittelman (Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 56-70.)

Genel olarak soylemek gerekir ise Mustafa Kamal Pasha uluslararasi iliskilere yönelik iki teorik temeli de (Islam [Ibn-i Haldun] ve Neo-Gramscianizm) kullanan, bunlardan yararlanan ve hatta bazi çalismalarinda bu iki teorik temeli bir arada kullanmaya, birbirine entegre etmeye çalisan ilginç bir akademisyendir denilebilir. (Orn: “Islam, ‘Soft’ Orientalism and Hegemony: A Gramscian Rereading,” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 8 (2005): 543-558.)

Akademik hayatina, Profesör olarak hâlen Aberdeen Üniversitesi’nde, Uluslararasi Iliskiler Bölümü baskani olarak devam eden Kamal Pasha’ya okul adresinden ulasabilirsiniz.

Andreas Bieler

2008-02-13T14:44:00.000+02:00

Neo-Gramscianizm hakkinda calisan sosyal bilimcilerin sayisi giderek artiyor. Bunlara surekli yenileri ekleniyor ve bu eklenmelerle hem Neo-Gramscianizm'in uygulama alani genisliyor, hem de teori giderek daha kapsamli bir hale geliyor. Bu yazida size Neo-Gramscian sosyal bilimcilerden birisi olan Andreas Bieler'den kisaca bahsetmeye calisacagim.

Kendisi aslen Alman olan Andreas Bieler, su anda Ingiltere'de Nottingham Universitesi'nde calismalarina devam etmekte. Uluslararasi Iliskier ve IPE alaninda calisan ve dersler veren Andreas Bieler, ozel olarak ise Avrupa Entegrasyonu hakkinda yazilar yaziyor. Alanina yaptigi en onemli katkilardan birisi, Avrupa Entegrasyonu konusuna farkli bir teorik cerceveyle bakmis olmasidir. Bu zamana kadar genel olarak Neo-Fonksiyonalizm ve Inter-Governmentalism teorileriyle aciklanan Avrupa Entegrasyonu konusuna, Neo-Gramscian teoriyi uygulamis ve bunda da oldukca basarili olmustur. Bu alandaki ilk yayini, doktora tezinin kitaplastirilmis halidir.

Robert W. Cox ve Stephen Gill gibi akademisyenlere nazaran gorece daha yeni bir Neo-Gramscian sosyal bilimci olarak gorulebilir Andreas Bieler, fakat buna ragmen bilimsel uretim anlaminda oldukca hizli ve uretken oldugu soylenebilir. 1998'te doktora derecesini alan Bieler'in iki kitabinin yani sira cok sayida makalesi bulunmaktadir.

Halihazirda uc arastirma projesi yuruten Bieler, arastirmalarini diger Neo-Gramscian sosyal bilimci Adam David Morton ile birlikte surdurmekte. Arastirma projelerinden ikisi ozellikle benim cok ilgimi cekmekte. Bunlardan birincisinde Bieler, Adam Morton'la birlikte, temel olarak Neo-Gramscian bakis acisindan hareket ederek tarihsel materyalist bir Uluslararasi Iliskiler Teorisinin gelistirilmesine calisiyor. Bu alanda yaptiklari dort onemli calismayi da makale olarak yayinladilar. Ikinci projede ise yerel ve ulusal baglamlari asan ve Global Civil Society denilen olgu uzerinde calisiyorlar.

Kendisine hem kendi ozel websitesinden, hem de okulun websitesinden ulasilabilir ve hakkinda daha ayrintili bilgiler alinabilir. Kendi websitesinden bazi makalelerine tam metin halinde de ulasabilirsiniz.

WISC 2008: Second Global International Studies Conference

2008-02-13T14:32:00.000+02:00

Merhabalar,

Bu aralar birkac guzel haber aldim. Konumuzla ilgili oldugu icin sizlerle de paylasayim dedim. Kismet olursa, 23 - 26 Temmuz tarihleri arasinda Slovenya'da, "2nd Global International Studies Conference"'ta iki tane teblig sunacagim. Iki teblig de Neo-Gramscian teoriyle ilgili. Birincisinde Uluslararasi iliskiler teorisinin en temel konularindan birisi olan guc meselesini Neo-Gramscian bakis acisina gore incelemeye calisacagim. Ikinci tebligde ise, BM Guvenlik Konseyi reformunda yasanan tikanikligin nasil asilabilecegine dair Neo-Gramscian teoriyi kullanarak bazi analizler yapacagim.

Umarim guzel bir konferans olur. Bu konuyla ilgili yeni gelismeleri buradan duyurmaya calisacagim.

Konferansin sitesini ziyaret etmek isteyenler icin adres: http://www.wiscnetwork.org

International Gramsci Society

2008-02-11T16:17:00.000+02:00

Bu ilk yazida, kisaca Uluslararasi Gramsci Toplulugundan (International Gramsci Society) bahsetmek istiyorum.

Topluluk esas olarak Gramsci'nin felsefesinden hareketle calismalarina devam eden akademisyenleri, biliminsanlarini bir araya getirmek, onlar arasindaki etkilesimi, haberlesmeyi kolaylastirmak icin kurulmus. Icerisinde tabii ki Antonio Gramsci'ye ait bircok bilgiye de ulasabiliyorsunuz: Gramsci'nin hayati, biyografisi, fotograflari. Bunlarin yani sira bazi belgelere ve Gramsci hakkinda yazilmis online makalelere ulasabiliyorsunuz. Sitede ayrica sesli kayitlar ve videolar bolumu de var. Burada da Gramsci hakkinda farkli bilimadamlarinin bir seminer, konferans vs. sirasinda kaydedilmis ses ve goruntu kayitlarina ulasabiliyorsunuz. Bunlara ilaveten Gramsci ile ilgili yapilan son akademik yayinlara ve yapilacak konferanslar hakkindaki bilgilere de sitenin Haberler bolumunden ulasabiliyorsunuz.

Kisaca soylemek gerekirse, Gramsci ile ve onun felsefesiyle ilgilenen herkes icin oldukca yararli bir site.

http://www.internationalgramscisociety.org/