State theorists have usually attempted to theorize the state but this is a misleading focus that risks treating the state as a simple instrument or machine, a reified apparatus that is primarily a source of constraint on political action, or a more or less rational subject that exercises power. Such positions have been criticized from many alternative theoretical positions as well as proven unhelpful in empirical analyses.
This on-line version is the pre-copyedited, preprint version. The published version can be found here: ‘Globalization and the national state’, in S. Aaronowitz and P. Bratsis, eds, Paradigm Lost: State Theory Reconsidered, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 185-220, 2002. *** Keywords: Poulantzas; state theory; class relations; domestic bourgeoisie; imperialism; internationalization; globalization; ideology; nation-state; Keynesian welfare…
Download the full text PDF version: Nicos Poulantzas Marxist Theory and Political Strategy Preface The idea for this book first took shape in early 1979 and it has been some five years in coming to fruition. I have long been interested in theories of the capitalist state in general and the work of Poulantzas in…
Bob Jessop 