The Phenomenon of Hegemony - Coursework Example

Herman Pak Joe Academia-Research.com Order 523620   22 March Hegemony: Perspectives of Hegemony Hegemony is ideally about a leadership. It derives from the word of Greek “Hegemon” means “leader”. However, it extends to politic, economy, ideology and cultural power as well as authority, influence especially of one state in a group of states. (Hornby). In political practices, the term has come to be used in a variety of other contexts such as, mistakenly used to suggest to brute power or dominance. In other words, it shifted to one’s or group’s purpose or mission of dominated power that usually occurs in political approach system in the past time. Because of the use of hegemony in a variety of contexts, it extends to other disciplinary, as cultural hegemony that discusses about philosophic and sociological concept, originated by the Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci, that a culturally diverse society can be ruled or dominated by one of its social classes. It is the dominance of one social group over another, e.g. the ruling class over all other classes. The theory claims that the ideas of the ruling class come to be seen as the norm; they are seen as universal ideologies, perceived to benefit everyone whilst really benefiting only the ruling class. For Gramsci as a cultural hegemonist, he posits a strategic distinction, between a War of Position and a War of Maneuver. The war of position is intellectual, a culture war in which the anti-capitalist educators, agitators and organizers seek to have the dominant voice in the mass media, other mass organizations, and the schools (and actively conduct ideological subversion). Once achieved, this position will be used to increase class-consciousness each revolutionary theory and analysis, and to inspire revolutionary organization. On winning the intellectual war of position, socialist leaders would then have the necessary political power and popular support to begin the war of maneuver - the armed insurrection against capitalism (Ratna) For Imperialist, Hegemony has its own specific concept that is called as cultural imperialism that is the domination of one culture over another by a deliberate policy or by economic or technological superiority. Cultural imperialism can take the form of an active, formal policy or a general attitude. A metaphor of colonialism is employed: the cultural products of the first world "invade" the third world and "conquer" local culture. In the stronger variants of the term, world domination (in a cultural sense) is the explicit goal of the nation-states or multinational corporations that export the culture. The term is usually used in a pejorative sense, often in conjunction with a call to reject such influence. A Perspective of Hegemony in Contemporary Power Power as one of political imperialist’s instruments has created new dynamic purposes and targets to legalize the x-interest. Here, x-interest is something hidden and can be only defined by one person who wants his or her power runs well. X-interest, which is not specifically designed under the social norms, has changed into general social norms, which is legalized by society under pressure and forces. Here, strategically mission is directed to the x-interest. Therefore, imperialist requires more than sacrifice to achieve the target. When the power has been a huge formation, it extends to other that we call as cultural imperialism. This affects all aspects in social life including way of life, ideology and life tendencies. Mr. Muammar Qadaffi, the president of Libya is one of the examples that can be found in TV and becomes hot issues. To run his power, he uses many factors what I call “Regional Nationalism”. It talks about brute nationalist who defends his country from other states invasion. For years, stability had become the evidence that he can lead Libya well without any rebellion, protests or new revolutionists (Suhady). Based on the issue, the concept of hegemony, in this case, directs to the strategically mission that is used to run “legal” imperialism. The varieties of society cultures as a real global group have become his target to justify his power by symbolizing the regional nationalism as hegemonic power. A Perspective of Hegemony in Culture of Contemporary Capitalism For hundreds years ago, capitalists had been a legal proprietor in countries. It influences the way of life of societies. Slaves and suppression color daily life. Humanity and confraternity becomes out of the question. Only one power or more dominate economy. In one case, capitalism fulfils the needs of people who are lack of food and need a job to survive. However, the impact of the capitalism has halted the creativity, imagination and innovation from talented people. This is one of the best methods to castrate one’s life (Robinson). Theoretically, in cotemporary business, capitalism becomes less important and even zero in business method that colors social tendencies to global economy. War of prices or rates has developed the skill and the creativity of the players’ to run the business and expand their business. The concept of capitalism has changed into new hegemonic causality where there is an offer and request. Here, economy system is not dominated by one person or group but becomes the property of business players around the world. In daily life, monopoly, as a hegemonic culture of capitalist, remains to dominate the system of economy in many countries. The best way to run one’s interest to dominate is to develop new group or society that is controlled and monitored by the group of power authorized legally by the decision maker. This automatically affects the colors of the business. It runs as if it is legal and admitted by all systems in the country. The differences of cultures and ideologies have affects the system of power and the norm. Mostly monopoly systems occur in liberal system such as America and other Europe countries. One corporation or two of a group of power dominate economy system about 75% instead of Asian countries that follows religion or cultural system as a system of politic. Furthermore, the business prospects and the market targets can be one of the effective guns for the new capitalist to manipulate the meaning of the prospect into strategic area that is designed by capitalist to suck the core resources and fresh employees. Concepts of hegemony in contemporary social economy system have changed into neo-hegemony that dominates markets for their interest of groups. This is a real capitalist in modern system of modern society. Kevin Narizny, the committee on International Relations of The University of Chicago Saw that democracy can be an instrument for the capitalist to make propaganda in economy system of state and he expressed it into a big question: How, exactly, should a capitalist hegemony engage in democracy promotion? First, the hegemony should focus its attention on the richest, most powerful countries in the international system, i.e., those that contain the most attractive markets for export and investment. Poor, weak states have less to offer in terms of commercial opportunity, so they should rate lower on the hegemony’s list of priorities. The hegemony may decide to intervene in their internal politics for sound strategic reasons, but, even after having done so, it will have little incentive to devote additional resources to ensuring that they become democratic. Second, democratization should be considered a long-term strategy, not a short-term imperative. He does not expect capitalist hegemonies to foment regime change at every possible opportunity, to the exclusion of all other policies designed to enhance their wealth and security. The advantages of democratization may pale in comparison to the risk of conflict with states targeted by such a strategy. Thus, democratization should be opportunistic, not principled. It should be pursued most actively in territories that are already subject to the hegemony’s rule, such as colonies and defeated adversaries, or through low-cost instruments of diplomatic and economic pressure, such as international institutions controlled by the hegemony. Third, the process of democratization should be self-reinforcing. A hegemony has the greatest capacity to effect regime change in other countries, but all capitalist states, small and large alike, should benefit from the democratization of the international system. If the hegemony achieves initial success in this goal, its protégées should become willing collaborators in future efforts at democracy promotion. Thus, the process of democratization should accelerate over time. Once the core of the international system becomes predominantly democratic, and therefore capitalist, the hegemony should be able to count on the other great powers to help it advance its agenda. All of them should have a strong economic interest in opening foreign markets to their own firms, so they all should be predisposed to support democratization. Finally, the hegemony should support democratization not for its own sake, but as an instrument for the expansion of capitalism. If an authoritarian regime demonstrates its ability to uphold the rule of law, enforce property rights, eliminate corruption, prevent the formation of cartels, and maintain free trade, it should face little pressure to reform its political institutions. The prototypical example is Singapore, which, not coincidentally, is one of the United States’ closest allies. The fact that such regimes are so rare is a testament to the close connection between capitalism and democracy (Kevin). Work Cited Hornby, AS. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1974. Print Narizny, Kevin. Democratization, Capitalism and Hegemony. Chicago: Committee on International Relations - The University of Chicago,. Print. Robinson, Michael E. Broadcasting in Korea, 1924-1937: Colonial Modernity and Cultural Hegemony. University of Hawaii Press, 1998. Print. Suhady, Drs. Idup. Kepemerintahan Yang Baik – Modul Pendidikan dan Pelatihan Prajabatan Gol.I dan II. Jakarta: LANRI, 2009. Print. Ratna, Sri. Dinamika Kelompok – Modul Pendidikan dan Pelatihan Prajabatan Gol.I dan II. Jakarta: LANRI, 2009. Print. Read More