Unravelling Gramsci: hegemony and passive revolution in the global political economy

Abstract

List of Figures 4.1 The relations of force 4.2 The political relation of hegemony 5.1 The dialectical relation of forces 5.2 The dialectical moment of hegemony 6.1 Geopolitical relations and 'the international' vii This book would not have come to fruition without the support and advice of a number of people who merit acknowledgement for the infl uence they have brought to bear on the content that follows. The responsibility for the contents is of course mine. The book itself took form across my time at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth; Lancaster University; and the University of Nottingham. During my period at Aberystwyth, I would like to acknowledge the fi nancial support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for both a Ph.D. studentship (reference: R0042963410) and a postdoctoral fellowship (reference: T026271041). More importantly, I thank both Pinar Bilgin and Steve Hobden for carrying me through a great period with their personal friendships that have continued ever since. At Lancaster, I would particularly like to thank Bob Jessop for the infl uential discussions I had with him. He remains a strong inspiration and infl uence despite my institutional and geographical relocation or different 'spatio-temporal fi x'. Similarly the friendship of Graham Smith was a mainstay of support at Lancaster, despite the fact that we never managed to agree on the history of ideas. One could say that our conversations on political theory and indeed our amity were all the more productive precisely because of our intellectual divergences. Among my new colleagues at Nottingham, Andrew Robinson deserves many thanks for providing me with extensive written comments on a draft version of the manuscript. I owe my biggest intellectual debt, though, to Andreas Bieler who also provided detailed comments and feedback on the whole text and with whom I have worked closely over recent years. His exhortations to 'fi nish the book' and, at the same time, his continued counsel to contest the incipient slide towards liberal pluralism within Gramsci studies, were much welcomed. As always, it is his friendship, good humour, and insight that have sustained me through the usual challenges of academic life. Conversations and communications that shaped various parts of the book were also shared with Richard Bellamy,