A Critical Literature Review: Theories of International Relations and Marxism, from Exclusion to Limited Recognition

This study is a critical literature review on the relationship between Marxism and the theories of International Relations. The discipline of International Relations historically excluded Marxism both methodologically and epistemologically. With the 1980s Marxism was slowly included in the discipline by way of depriving it of its essential content. While this exclusion was more US-centered, intellectual exchanges of the International Relations scholars outside the United States with Marxism since the 1990s also remained as an exception. While Marxism basically analyzed international relations through the theories of Imperialism, more recently there was a revival in the Marxist debate of international relations in the context of globalization. Similar to Marxism, the contributions by anti-systemic historical materialists leading to alternative perspectives on international relations have also been systematically ignored by the International Relations discipline.