Thesis-In-Progress on American National Security

[Tukhachevskii]

Basically, a society is made up of factions. These factions compete with one another, and some of those factions manage to come out on top and in control of the state and its resources.

So, in essence, what you are talking about are hegemonic blocs (or blocco storico in Gramsci's original formulation). I am afraid that I concur with most of the above comments regarding the fact that arguments along the lines proposed by you above have been made already. For an approach that explicitly uses Gramscian ideas see R. W. Cox's magisterial, Production, Power and World Order: Social Forces in the Making of History (methodologically the approach is best described as International Political Economy with an admixture of other means). Alternatively see his shorter articles in Approaches to World Order one of which, the title momentarily escapes me, explained the factional/bloc/elite approach as developed by Gramsci. Good luck nonetheless.