The ‘philosophical premises’ of uneven and combined development

Abstract

Recent debates over Leon Trotsky's idea of ‘uneven and combined development’ (U&CD) have focused on its potential in the field of International Relations, but they have not established the source of this potential. Does it derive from the philosophical premises of dialectics? The present article argues that the idea of U&CD in fact involves an innovation as fundamental for Marxist dialectics as for other branches of social theory. And it also argues that in formulating this innovation, Trotsky provided a general solution to some of the most basic problems in social and international thought. The argument is set out in three parts. The first part reconstructs Trotsky's own account of dialectical premises and their implications for social explanation. The second shows how the concept of U&CD departs from this, in ways that presuppose the tacit addition of a further ontological premise. Finally, part three analyses the locus classicus of the concept – the opening chapter of Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution – showing how it is this additional premise which underpins the central achievement of the idea: its incorporation of ‘the international’ into a theory of history.

The limits of historical sociology: Temporal borders and the reproduction of the ‘modern’ political present

“…On the basis of the latter, U&CD focuses primarily on inter-societal rather than interstate relations in order to explain how different societies have emerged in relation to one another on the basis of their different levels of development. It does this, moreover, by rejecting a linear notion of time, emphasizing instead the non-linear or multi-linear dimension that characterizes ‘the interactive multiplicity of societies’ ( Rosenberg, 2013 : 583). The ‘international’ should, thus, not be reserved for a Eurocentric explanation of the modern states-system.…”

Geopolítica como Luta de Classes: Marxismo Político, Relações Internacionais e Sociologia Histórica | Geopolitics as Class Struggle: Political Marxism, International Relations and Historical Sociology

“…A noção de 7 Para uma exposição detalhada do argumento MarxistaPolítico sobre a separação entre o político e o econômco, ver a obra de Ellen Wood (2002Wood ( , 1995 Em suma, ao reinterpretar a noção de geopolítica de forma que a luta de classe se torna seu centro analítico, o Marxismo Político fornece uma importante contribuição à Teoria de RI que consiste em traçar as origens sociológicas da concepção moderna de "internacional". Em outras palavras, a multiplicidade de unidades políticas só pode ser entendida através de sua particularidade, e não como abstração transhistórica (Bull, 1977;Morgenthau, 1948;Rosenberg, 2013Rosenberg, , 2006. Pelo mesmo motivo, tal argumento evita os rótulos de "reducionismo" ou "internalismo" teórico, nos quais o "internacional" é explicado através do "doméstico" (Waltz, 1979), uma vez que se trata justamente de reinterpretar tal separação como objeto de análise histórica.…”

Dialectics and World Politics: The Story So Far …

“…Yet despite the flurry of debate that followed, IR theory quickly resumed its ambivalence to dialectical analysis. Nevertheless, an undercurrent of new scholarship has arisen that canvasses both theoretical and practical applications of dialectics: Rosenburg (2013) has utilised Trotsky's uneven and combined development as a distinctly dialectical way of understanding key problems in social and international thought; Ling (2013b) has developed a unique Daoist dialectical approach to world politics; Patomäki (2006) has furthered a Critical Realist approach to dialectics and global futures; and I have begun to outline an open-ended and social-relational dialectic for world politics (see Brincat, 2009Brincat, , 2011.…”