Marx's Legacy to International Relations

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevance of Karl Marx’s ideas in the discipline of International Relations (IR) more than three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Through an analysis of Marx’s works to construct the theoretical framework he left for understanding international affairs, as well as tracing the impact of his ideas on other theories within the discipline, the study reveals that it is a fallacy to dismiss Marx’s contributions as a result of the collapse of the Soviet model and that Marx contributed with an original theoretical framework that has been significantly influential on different contemporary IR theories. The paper concludes that although Marx did not seek to construct a theory of international relations, his theoretical legacy is significant for IR, as it offers an alternative ontological, methodological and normative approach to dominant theories and has influenced numerous approaches and theories within the discipline.