The Janus-like character of counter-hegemony: Progressive and Nationalist Responses to Globalisation: Progressive and nationalist responses to neoliberalism

This article aims to look at the types of resistance that exist towards neoliberalism, and places their relevance in terms of counter-hegemony. By tackling this I will use a Gramscian interpretation of hegemony, and subsequently draw on a number of scholars within the fields of both IR and IPE who have converted Gramsci's theories of hegemony and historicism to a greater critical interpretation of global politics. I will argue that by viewing counter-hegemonic forces within a framework of Gramscian historicism one can identity the possible character of any future possible reconstructing of global hegemony. In investigating different forms of counter-hegemonic forces I will examine social forces opposed in different ways to global neoliberalism in the core states of the United Kingdom and United States, which orchestrated its revolution in the 1980s, and then turn to look at those in Russia, a nation not only adapting to transnationalism, but capitalism itself. This will demonstrate that counter-hegemonic social movements take differing forms in character; whilst some may be committed towards social progression and enlightenment, of the type that neo-Gramscian scholars welcome, others take a more nationalist or extremist stance. Also by looking at case studies in these two areas it will further highlight the differences and fragmentations between those anti-globalist forces in core countries and those in countries that are historically more hostile to Western projects, but at the same time illustrate the collective factors that these different geographical forces hold.