Hegemony

Under hegemony ( from Ancient Greek ἡγεμονία Hegemonia, Army leadership, hegemony, command ', this of ἡγεμών hegemon, leader, leaders ' ) is the dominance or superiority of an institution, a state, an organization or a similar actor in political, military, economic, religious and / or cultural terms. Compared to a hegemon ( the rulers of hegemony ) have other actors only limited opportunities to practically enforce their own ideas and interests. Although the theoretical / legal way to do this may be given, but the implementation is often confounded by the influence and the overwhelming power of the hegemon.

The hegemony of the noun corresponding adjective is called hegemonic, its opposite antihegemonial.

History of the concept of hegemony

In history there are many examples of hegemonic power structures, in ancient times, for example, Athens and Sparta, Macedonia under Philip II and the Roman Empire. Currently particularly the U.S. superpower is associated with this concept, in the sense of an apparent global political supremacy role, in conjunction in some circles.

The political theory of neo-realism explains the origin of hegemonies from the existence of different capabilities ( or skills ) of different States, and supremacy in those same. So there may be Hegemone to a hierarchy of power in the international system; however, this hierarchy is vulnerable and exposed to the criticism of others. This instability is justified by the pursuit of the individual states according to relative gains (about Balanced ratios ) that the tendency to the formation of a balance of power leads that long-term forms a counterpoint to the existing hegemony. The most stable constellation is loud Neorealism the bipolar system.

Since substantial contributions to the theory of neo-realism of U.S. scientists and historians have been developed, this theory is assumed an implicit, sometimes explicit affirmation of Western, and especially American hegemony. This contention is, for example, the discussion about a possible decline of U.S. hegemony in the early 1970s, in the grounds of Hegemonic Stability Theory by Charles P. Kindleberger, among others resulted from and was followed by a reorientation of U.S. foreign policy. Hegemony is thereby interpreted positively, as the supremacy of a state could guarantee collective goods such as security and prosperity; of course, this has the subordination of third States result. In terms of a reformulated theory of hegemony theorists such as Robert O. Keohane and Joseph Nye call for a foreign policy founded more on cooperation and consensus, because coercion in order to maintain recognition within the international system can; According to them the political capital of symbolic politics (so-called soft power ) is not small to underestimated factor in the contest of competing world order ( cf. interdependence ).

From a theoretical discussion of the politics and the theories of Leninism, Stalinism and fascism Italian Antonio Gramsci developed in the 1920s a Marxist theory of the multi-faceted relationship between political power and hegemony. With hegemony " a type of rule named, primarily based on the ability to define their own interests as a social public interests and enforce " is following Gramsci.

The locations of the arguments about hegemony as Gramsci called civil society. His reflections on the translation of ideological views in the " common sense ", the ratio of operating traditional intellectuals and parties as ' collective intellectual' and the like give a concept of a restive and democratic struggle for the " cultural hegemony." Your profit after Gramsci creates only the possibility of political power, their loss undermines the ruling power. The cultural hegemony goes according to Gramsci in forms of popular culture and folklore, superstition and the like into it.

For Gramsci, hegemony is thus a specific way of social exercise of power.

From the direction of post-structuralism, a constituent inter alia on Gramsci 's theory of hegemony discourse analysis has developed in recent years, which was largely developed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. The two take off here from the class- theoretical assumptions of the concept of hegemony in Gramsci and hegemony is " interpreted basic principle of social interaction. " As hegemony is here become a fundamental mechanism for the formation of identity and the construction of meaning. Therefore Opratko Benjamin speaks of the carried ontologization of the hegemony concept.

Raewyn Connell has introduced the concept of " hegemonic masculinity " in the men's studies.