Che Lives! The Legacy of Che Guevara in World Politics

Abstract

This article introduces the discipline of International Relations (IR) to the ideas of Che Guevara and their legacy in world politics. As one of the most famous revolutionaries of all time, Che’s legacy is complex, multifaceted, and deeply political. His thought carries across many concerns central to IR theory, especially decolonialism and anti-imperialism, offering a unique radical Marxist-humanism focused on revolutionary praxis. This paper explores Che’s writing and speeches, arguing that the most important aspects of Che’s legacy do not reside in his contemporary romanticization but in Che’s emphasis on class analysis as a means to interrogate neo-imperialism in world order and thereby expose the possibilities for a genuinely internationalist (or cosmopolitan) politics of emancipation leading to a decolonized, self-determining world.