From Micro-Powers to Governmentality: Foucault’s Work on Statehood, State Formation, Statecraft and State Power

This article revisits Foucault’s analytics of power in the light of his lectures on governmentality and biopolitics in Society must be Defended (1975-6), Securité, territoire, population (1977-8) and Naissance de la biopolitique (1978-9). Foucault is renowned for his criticisms of state theory and advocacy of a bottom-up approach to social power; and for his hostility to many theoretical and practical manifestations of orthodox Marxism.

Bringing the State Back in (Yet Again): Reviews, Revisions, Rejections, and Redirections

This article addresses West European and North American developments in theorizing the state. It briefly reviews the first major postwar revival of theoretical interest in the state that began in Western Europe during the mid-1960s. This was mainly led by Marxists interested in the general form and functions of the capitalist state; but a key supporting role was played by Marxist-feminists who extended such ideas to the patriarchal capitalist state…

On the Originality, Legacy, and Actuality of Nicos Poulantzas

This on-line version is the pre-copyedited, preprint version. The published version can be found here:  ‘On the originality, legacy, and actuality of Nicos Poulantzas’, Studies in Political Economy, 34, 75-108, 1991.   It is now some eleven years (at the time of writing in 2000) since the tragic death of Nicos Poulantzas.[1] His name will…

Lectures on Gramsci

This module introduces the work of Antonio Gramsci and its relevance to the arts, humanities and social sciences. It deals with the life and work of Gramsci, outlines the principal influences on his intellectual and political analyses, and some key concepts deployed in his work. At the end of the course, participants will have gained…

Narratives of Crisis and Crisis Response: Perspectives from North and South

This on-line version is the pre-copyedited, preprint version. The published version can be found here: ‘Narratives of crisis and crisis response: perspectives from North and South’, in P. Utting, S. Razavi, and R.V. Buchholz, eds, The Global Crisis and Transformative Change, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 23-42, 2012.   Introduction This chapter explores attempts by different social…

Poulantzas’s State, Power, Socialism as a Modern Classic

Note: this is the long version of a chapter published in German as ‘Kapitalistischer Staatstyp und autoritärer Etatismus. Poulantzas’s Staatstheorie als moderner Klassik’, in L. Bretthauer et al., eds, Poulantzas Lesen: Zur Aktualität marxistischer Staatstheorie, Hamburg: VSA, 65-81; and retranslated in its short version in 2011 as ‘Poulantzas’s State, Power, Socialism as a modern classic’,…

Marxist Approaches to Power

This on-line version is the pre-copyedited, preprint version. The published version can be found here: ‘Marxist Approaches to Power’ in E. Amenta, K. Nash, A. Scott, eds, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology, Oxford: Blackwell, 3-14, 2012. Marxist approaches to power focus on its relation to class domination in capitalist societies. Power is linked to…

Political Economy, Political Ecology, and Democratic Socialism

First Annual Nicos Poulantzas Memorial Lecture Delivered at Panteios University of Economics and Political Sciences 7th December 2007  You can also find a shortened German translation here: ‘Politische Ökonomie, politische Ökologie und demokratischer Sozial-ismus’, in A. Demirovic, S. Adolphs, and S. Karakayalı, eds, Das Staats-verständnis von Nicos Poulantzas, Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag, 35-52, 2010.  *** All…