Neofunctionalism

Neo-Gramscian perspectives try to understand the development of hegemony historically. They view hegemonic structures as the product of social processes, which also include social, cultural and ideological dimensions in their definition of hegemonic structures. Here hegemony implies prevailing structures of power and domination secured by a combination of coercion and consensus. As a result, in the early 1980s, what are sometimes referred to as traditional approaches within International Relations (IR) faced a fundamental challenge from critical perspectives, which include feminist and postmodern approaches as well as the critical theory of historical materialism. The development of neo-Gramscian perspectives in the early 1980s must also be regarded as part of the rejection of established approaches within IR. Based on a historical materialist understanding of social change and drawing on the insights of the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci. Robert Cox developed a critical theory of hegemony, world order and historical change.