Its impact on the critical theory of
international relations has been immense. It has also been an important
resource in the area of international political economy, where scholars
have analysed the interplay between states and markets, the states-system
and the capitalist world economy, the spheres of power and production.
For some, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the triumph of capitalism
over socialism marked the death of Marxism as social theory and political
practice. In the 1990s, some argued that the relevance of Marxism
had increased with the passing of the age of bipolarity and the rapid
emergence of a new phase of economic globalization (Gamble 1999).