According to the Marxist theory, the key factor that predetermines the development of international politics is capitalism. It is believed that capitalism will spread all around the world, replacing in such a way the international state system with a global capitalistic society. Capitalism is viewed by Marxists as the global expansion of industrial technologies throughout the world. According to the classical Marxist theory, the market laws predetermine this global expansion of capitalism.
Moreover, within the development of competitive trade and its universalization, the borders between the states will be of less importance. Marxists believe that the processes, which are taking place in international politics, are predetermined mostly by the class conflicts.
The great importance in the international relations concept is given to Westphalian Peace. The great part of the researchers attributed all the existing norms and values in international relations to Westphalia. The generally accepted vision of this problem is the idea that the Westphalian Peace has established the common principles of sovereignty and secularism (Kayaoglu 195). By sovereignty here, it is understood the restriction of the dominant aims of the Holy Roman Empire. It is believed that the Westphalian arrangements have given the possibility to other states to maintain their international policy independently.
The secularism implies the diminishment of the influence of the Catholic Church and its intervention in the internal affairs of the country. Moreover, it is recognized that the newly established principle of religious non-interference and tolerance promotes the peaceful coexistence of the countries. All these factors have been idealized as the basic principles that had transformed Europe into a civilized and democratic society.
At the same time, many scientists consider the influence of the Westphalian Peace to be a myth. They assert that all the mentioned above norms and institutions has been existing before the Westphalian arrangements. Turan Kayaoglu in his article uses such term as the Westphalian narrative (197). He argues that this myth has been elaborated by the “nineteenth century imperial international jurists” (Kayaoglu 193) in order to perpetuate the importance of the European countries in the theory of the international relations.
Many researches are apt to think that all the processes in the international politics may be explained by the influence of the capitalism. At the same time, the political structure of the modern world with its territorial subdivision was not caused by the its impact. Rather capitalism has become an integrated part of it. As Benno Teschke puts it “capitalism did not cause the territorially based state-system, nor that it required a state-system, but that it is nevertheless eminently compatible with it” (37).
The circulation of the capital on the world market is possible without the breaking the governmental sovereignty. Nevertheless, the functioning of the world market is strictly subdued to its laws. The contemporary idea of the international relations lies in the transnational political management of the capitalistic processes and in the control of the global world economy by the leading capitalistic countries.
The capitalistic nature of the international relations in the 18th century was the reason of the stringent colonial policy of the leading states. The aim of this policy was the domestic marketing development and the national currency support. Now the concept of the international relations is not “the war-assisted accumulation of the territories” (Teschke 37). The acquisition of the territory is no more the necessary condition for the successful functioning of the market.
From the point of view of the Marxist theory, the processes that are taking place in the capitalistic economy demands the transition of the productive forces to the economical organization on the basis of the public ownership. Such a transition will give an opportunity to subdue the economic to the public interests, to make efficient the use of resources and to improve the process of production.
Works cited
Kayaoglu, Turan.“Westphalian Eurocentrism in International Relations Theory.”International Studies Review 12 (2010): 193–217.Informaworld. Web.
Teschke, Benno. “Theorizing the Westphalian System of States: International Relations from Absolutism to Capitalism.” European Journal of International Relations 8.1. (2002): 5-48. Informaworld. Web.