Hegemony, Morality and Power

This chapter provides much of the theoretical framework and overview that will assist readers' understanding of the subsequent chapters in this book. The edited volume's key themes of hegemony, morality and power are explained in-depth here using the philosophical writings of Antonio Gramsci as a guide. Gramsci is an important source of authority for many academics interested in International Relations (particularly World Order studies), Communications Theory, Culture Studies, Postcolonial Studies and Political Communications. His widespread absence from literature on public diplomacy is therefore interesting in and of itself but so too is public diplomacy's general lack of sufficient theorisation. This chapter seeks to address these issues.