Hegemony (Key Concepts in Political Theory)

Power rarely works by force alone: it also rules by winning hearts and minds.States, classes, and social groups all seek political dominance by exerting political, ideological, or cultural leadership over others.This idea - hegemony - is a subtle, complex one, which is too often applied crudely. In this succinct introduction, political theorist James Martin skilfully examines these nuances and shines a new light on hegemony.He introduces its component ideas and critically surveys the most influential thinking about hegemony, from Gramsci’s theory of hegemony as a revolutionary strategy and Marxist theories of the state, politics, and culture to the Post-Marxist project of radical democracy.He then considers the concept’s critical role in analysing international politics and global political economy, and evaluates the criticism that hegemony is too state-centric to truly capture the dynamics of contemporary struggles for emancipation. This lucid and accessible guide to hegemony will be