Counter-Hegemony and Foreign Policy: The Dialectics of Marginalized and Global Forces in Jamaica(SUNY series in Global Politics)

It is not uncommon for scholars and policy makers to assume that small and dependent states must follow the lead of great or middle powers. But is this always the case? Drawing on the increasingly influential Gramscian approach to international relations, this book shows the ways in which marginalized social forces in Jamaica were mobilized against the hegemonic practices emanating from the global political economy. Persaud emphasizes the counter-hegemonic cultural activities of these forces, as well as the attempt of the Jamaican government to form a global "trade union of the poor."

Table of Contents:
Foreword Preface Abbreviations 1. Introduction: The New Historical Materialism Why Jamaica 1962-1980? Historicism and the New Historical Materialism The Organization of the Study 2. Approaches to Third World Foreign Policy The Will to Classify Groping for Categories The Small/Weak State School "Small" or "Weak" State Power and Capability Core Generalizations Situation Role Analaysis The Dependence/Compliance-Dependency Approach 3. A Social Forces Approach to Foreign Policy Historical Structure as a Framework Hegemony Passive Revolution The Concept of Forms of State The Concept of Social Force Counter-Hegemony and Hegemony World Order Pressures The Argument: A First Cut 4. Ideology, Culture, and National Interest The National Interest versus Ideology Hegemony, Counter-Hegemony, and World Order Implications for Foreign Policy Analysis 5. The Making of Modern Jamaica and the Emergence of Exceptionalism Social Forces in the Struggle Over Hegemony Plantation Economy and Society: The Making of the Longue Duree Postwar Transformations The Consequences of Rapid Industrialization The Modern Social Structure The Hegemonic Bloc and the Ideology of Exceptionalism on the Eve of the 1970s Exceptionalism: The Ideology of the Hegemonic Bloc 6. Counter-Hegemonic Forces The Poor in the Making of History The Rastafarians Cultural Nationalism and Anti-Imperialism A Society of Deep Cleavages 7. Facilitating Passive Revolution The JLP's "Exceptionalist" Foreign Policy The JLP's Version of Jamaica's Uniqueness Multilateral Policy A Fractured Hegemony and PNP Recuperation 8. From "Exceptionalism" to Democratic Socialism A Requiem for Exceptionalism The 1972 General Elections A Democratic Socialist Foreign Policy The Multilateral Strategy Bilateralism 9. Promise and Defeat: Hegemony as Structual Power The 1976 Election and the Realignment of Social Forces The Economy: From Decline to Crisis Bilateral Policies The Opposition Groups 10. Onwards with Critical Theory Counter-Hegemony in Theory and Practice Some New Directions Notes References SUNY series in Global Politics Index

About the Author :
Randolph B. Persaud is Assistant Professor in the School of International Service at American University.

Review :
"An interesting and provocative argument that local-level counter-hegemonic movements can shape national foreign policy and ultimately challenge global hegemonic structures." - Beverley Mullings, Syracuse University "The theoretical sophistication of the book is impressive. This is one of the few attempts to link political and social dynamics at the local level with the unfolding of international political forces." - Pedro A. Caban, author of Constructing a Colonial People: Puerto Rico and the United States, 1898-1932