Capitalist State: Marxist Theories and Methods

Preface ................................................................................................................... xi
Abbreviations ...................................................................................................... 17
Marx And Engels On The State .............................................................................. 1
The Early Marx ............................................................................................................................ 2
Towards a Class Theory of the State ............................................................................................ 7
Economic Base and Political Superstructure ............................................................................... 9
The State as an Instrument of Class Rule ................................................................................... 12
The State as a Factor of Cohesion .............................................................................................. 16
The State as an Institutional Ensemble ...................................................................................... 20
Continuity and Discontinuity ..................................................................................................... 25
Marx and Engels on Method ...................................................................................................... 28
State Monopoly Capitalism ................................................................................ 32
The Precursors of ‘Stamocap’ Theory ....................................................................................... 33
Postwar ‘Stamocap’ Theories .................................................................................................... 40
The General Crisis of Capitalism ............................................................................................... 43
The ‘Monopoly-Theoretical’ Tradition ...................................................................................... 45
The ‘Capital-Theoretical’ Tradition ........................................................................................... 47
The French ‘Stamocap’ Approach ............................................................................................. 50
A Major British Contribution ..................................................................................................... 53
‘Stamocap’ Analyses of the State .............................................................................................. 57
Substantive Critique ................................................................................................................... 63
Methodological Critique ............................................................................................................ 71
Concluding Remarks .................................................................................................................. 76
Form And Functions Of The State .................................................................... 78
Historical and Theoretical Context ............................................................................................ 78
Commodity Circulation, Law, and the State .............................................................................. 84
Accumulation, State, and State Intervention .............................................................................. 90
Surface Forms, Common Interests, and The State ..................................................................... 97
Political Economy, Political Sociology, and Class Domination .............................................. 101An Excursus on Claus Offe ...................................................................................................... 106
Statehood, World Market, and Historical Constitution ............................................................ 112
Substantive Critique ................................................................................................................. 117
Methodological Critique .......................................................................................................... 130
Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................................ 140
Hegemony, Force, And State Power ................................................................ 142
Gramsci and State Power ......................................................................................................... 142
Gramsci’s Postwar Reception .................................................................................................. 152
Theoretical Development of Poulantzas .................................................................................. 153
The State, Social Classes, and Power....................................................................................... 158
On Private Individuation and Public Unity .............................................................................. 162
On ‘Normal’ and ‘Exceptional’ Forms .................................................................................... 167
‘Authoritarian Statism’ ............................................................................................................ 170
The Displacement of Dominance to the Political ..................................................................... 173
On the Transition to Socialism ................................................................................................. 177
A Critique of Poulantzas .......................................................................................................... 181
A ‘Discourse-Theoretical’ Approach ....................................................................................... 191
Methodological Critique of Neo-Gramscanism ....................................................................... 202
Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................................ 209
Towards A Theoretical Account Of The State ............................................... 211
Against a General Theory ........................................................................................................ 211
On the Method of Articulation ................................................................................................. 213
What is to be Theorised? .......................................................................................................... 220
Political Representation and State Intervention ....................................................................... 228
Social Bases and Resistances ................................................................................................... 241
Officialdom Vs. People ............................................................................................................ 247
A ‘Relational’ Orientation ....................................................................................................... 252
Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................................ 258
References .......................................................................................................... 260
Name Index ........................................................................................................ 282
Subject Index ..................................................................................................... 285