Power, State, and Hegemony: the interfaces between the theory of international relations and international political economy

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a proposal for a theoretical interpretation for the development of international political and economic structure in the post-war from the criticism of the theories of international relations and international political economy presented in the context of the crisis of the Bretton Woods system. The hypothesis is that in the context of the Cold War, the Western alliance on the one hand, and the internationalization of capital, on the other hand, produce a depoliticization of capital accumulation on a world scale, modifying interstate relations and making surpassed the discussion on the decline American power and on the hegemonic cycles. The same dynamic changes the characteristics of structural power and produces the political and economic instability due to the tensions generated by the change in the logic of capital accumulation on a world scale in the face of persistent state form.