ABSTRACT
The notion of hegemony is one that has been frequently used within the study of International Political Economy. It is also one that has been a contested concept and one that is often used in a problematic manner. This chapter outlines the developments of the concept in IPE and shows how the differences in understanding the term has often led to different conclusions made concerning the nature of wider power relations in the global political economy as a whole. As a result, the application of the concept has often reflected the idea of a trans-Atlantic divide which has been mentioned by those who have written on the short history of IPE, whereby methodological and theoretical divisions have led to contrasting interpretative conclusions.
