INTRODUCTION

One of the major theoretical challenges today is the formulation of a critical theory of hegemony in international relations. Gramsci's concept of hegemony can be applied at the level of the global political economy. Special attention to the cultural, ideological and political aspects of the hegemonic structure of world order and its dominant class coalitions is enhanced by the Gramscian approach (Cox, 1981; 1983; 1987; and Gill, 1990).

The Gramscian approach to global hegemony re-introduces politics into historical materialist analysis of international relations. Such a renewed emphasis on political processes can enrich work on hegemonic and world leadership cycles, undertaken with an emphasis on production, exchange patterns, and military power. The Gramscian approach forces us to examine not only the productive and military capabilities of the state(s) as the motor of hegemonic transition, but also to investigate how class alliances are built and how ideology is employed in order to both construct and legitimate a hegemonic order. The state may be conceptualised as composed of a coalition of classes. Hegemony operates among classes and is historically fluid in composition, much more so than any mistaken anthropomorphic conception of ‘the state’ would allow. However, in the case of East Asia there is a problem working with the Gramscian concept of consensus. In East Asia, ‘consensus’ is more constricted than in some other cultures. The state existed for the elite, there were no ‘citizens’ and no ‘rights’, only subjects.