The originality of Gramsci's conceptualisation of hegemony has long been recognised, and is evidenced in the extremely wide-ranging intellectual applications of, and the amazing corpus of published writings organised around, the Gramscian conceptualisation. In cultural writing, historical interpretation and studies of states, nations and global power it has proved remarkably versatile. Gramscian understandings of hegemony have shaped - overtly or implicitly - such crucial but diverse studies as Edward Said's analysis of Orientalism; Louis Althusser's theory of ideology; Michel Foucault's concept of the episteme; the writings of social historians such as E.P. Thompson and Hobsbawm; work within underdevelopment, imperialism, globalisation and international relations, such as that by Stephen Gill and Giovanni Arrighi on national and international hegemony; and writings in critical cultural and race studies such as those by Raymond Williams and Stewart Hall.
The reason that hegemony has been so widely and diversely adopted lies in the unique way that Gramsci formulated the 'problematic' of hegemony. Gramsci saw the problem of how exploitative and repressive social relations were established and then maintained over significant periods of time and territory as a complex blend of coercion and consent. To sustain long periods of class rule required class interests to be translated into what he called 'historic blocs'. [In his epoch these were contained within national-popular interests, although we note that that may be may be eroded under late capitalist globalisation]. In the construction of 'historic blocs', hegemony is imposed through a variety of means [military, intellectual, bureaucratic, moral and democratic persuasion]. In historical reality, this process of imposing hegemony implies varying levels of compromise within class relations; the construction of relatively stable institutional arrangements, attention to specific aspects of ethnicity, sexuality and gender relations; as well as cultural and intellectual domination. Equally, the hegemonic bloc thus constructed is never total: counter-hegemonic moments and movement recurrently if not continually contest the multiple dimensions of its claims to legitimacy. In short, Gramsci's concept of hegemony is a versatile comprehensive social theory that pays attention attention to a multiplicity of factors through which relations of exploitation and repression are imposed, sustained, contested, resisted and destroyed. The multi-faceted and versatile character of the Gramscian 'problematic' is the coherence, starting point and conceptual synapse that connects the four themes to be pursued in the Hegemony Research group. We envisage taking the Gramscian 'problematic' and exploring its dimensions in four inter related areas of intellectual enquiry. We see these areas as a) open and revisable; b) central to but not exclusively definitive of the grouping; c) connected to each other; d) talking to each other. We look forward to these areas providing a stimulating intellectual project in which the whole will be greater than the sum of its parts.