Dialogue of the Deaf

Some Reflections on the Poulantzas-Miliband Debate

Bibliographic Data

ID23211767
AuthorsB Jessop (0000-0001-8134-3926, corresponding author)
Year2008
Pages132-157
Publication date2008-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueClass, Power and the State in Capitalist Society (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan UK (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1057/9780230592704_7
OpenAlexW2494763146
ISBN9780230592704
LanguageEN
Citations received11

The state is such a complex theoretical object and so complicated an empirical one that no single theoretical approach can fully capture and explain its complexities. The resulting aporia was reflected in the debate between Nicos Poulantzas and Ralph Miliband on the nature, form, and functions of the state and, a fortiori, on the best way to analyse these issues. Indeed their mutual critiques became a key reference point in anglophone discussions on the state during the 1970s and 1980s and were also taken up in many other contexts (for an intellectual history of the debate and its context, see Barrow, 2002). The main state theory agenda later turned to other methodological issues, such as the benefits of a society- rather than state-centred approach to the state, and towards substantive topics, such as the future of the capitalist state in an era of globalization, the nature of the European Union, and 'empire' as a new form of political domination.1 Interest in state theory was also weakened by fascination with the apparently anti-state-theoretical (or, at least, anti-Marxist) implications of Foucault's work on the micro-physics of power and on governmentality.2 My contribution revisits the PoulantzasMiliband debate, clarifies its stakes as far as its main participants were concerned, and offers a new reading of its significance for theoretical and empirical analyses of the state.KeywordsCapitalist StateCapitalist SocietyDemocratic StateClass StruggleRelative AutonomyThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Bourgeoisie · Capitalism · Capitalist state · Context (archaeology) · Economics · Epistemology · Globalization · Governmentality · Marxist philosophy · Object (grammar) · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Power (physics) · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science) · History · Law · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism

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