From 'Theories of Hegemony' to 'Hegemony Analysis' in International Relations

The paper deals with the phenomenon of hegemony in International Relations theory and practice. First, it develops a cartography of the existing approaches to hegemony in IR. Second, it discusses and evaluates two significant attempts to create a comprehensive framework for studying hegemony in world politics; that is, 'agential approaches' and 'critical realist approaches'. The third section discusses the limitations of these two approaches, and proposes a new comprehensive framework for analysing the phenomenon of hegemony in IR. Rather than using agents and/or structures as its starting point, the proposed framework suggests approaching hegemony as a phenomenon of movement of power.