Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.11, 2017

Marx’s International Outlook and Its Contemporary Value

(Abstract)

Jiang An

Marx’s international outlook is an aggregate of his observations and analyses of the position, method, and viewpoint of the historical transition and developmental laws of international society. It manifests in concentrated form a fundamental recognition of world historical change and the evolutionary laws of world intercourse; value judgments of institutional changes in international society and the contradictory movement of the relationship of major forces; and the cultural dimension of pursuing morality and justice in international relations and world order. Marx explored the evolutionary laws of world history and international system with a grand historical perspective, revealing the inner driving forces of history and the secrets of evolution and thus providing a new analytical structure for identifying the nature of international relations and the characteristics of the times. Compared with the relevant international relations theories of his day, Marx developed his international outlook by conducting scientific research and dialectical analysis on the laws of evolution and the inner nature of international society, especially the historical mission of the proletariat, with his unique class position, methodology, rigorous speculative logic and value dimension. That outlook has occupied a unique place in the thinking and theories of international relations and is the intellectual guide for China’s theoretical innovation in foreign relations in the New Era.