Nicos Poulantzas: Marxist Theory and Political Strategy

Contents
Preface
Abbrevation
PART I
xiii
xvii
LIFE AND EARLY WORKS
1 The Life and Times of Poulantzas
The Early Life of Poulantzas
The First Years in France
The Concerns of the Seventies
Un Cri de Mélusine
An Approach to the Work of Poulantzas
Concluding Remarks
2 Existentialism, Marxism, and Law
Poulantzas's Preliminary Studies
The Nature of Things
Other Early Philosophical and Legal Studies
A Critique of the Early Poulantzas
Concluding Remarks
PART II
3
6
9
15
19
23
24
26
30
33
38
42
48
THEORIES OF THE CAPITALIST STATE
3 Towards a Regional Theory of Politics 53
4 Developing the Regional Theory 84
First Thoughts on Hegemony and the State
Italian Politics and French Philosophy
Methodological Foundations for a Regional Theory
State Power and Social Classes
The 'Isolation Effect', Class Relations, and the State
Fundamental Characteristics of the Capitalist State
State Unity and Relative Autonomy
Bureaucracy and Bureaucratism
Structuralist Marxism and Politicism
Juridico-political institutions and class practices
The Triple Structure of the Regional Theory
Further Difficulties in the Regional Theory
Concluding Remarks
Economic Determination and Political Dominance
Economic Intervention and Class Struggle
Economic and Political Crises
Normal and Exceptional States
‘Authoritarian Statism’
A Critique of the Regional Economic Theory
53
57
59
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68
70
72
74
76
78
81
84
87
90
94
97
103Poulantzas and State Monopoly Capitalism Theory
The Analysis of Political Regimes
Concluding Remarks
5 From a Regional to a Relational Theory?
New Methodological Considerations
The State, Class Powers, and Struggles
The Capitalist State and the Social Division of Labour
Citizenship, Law, and Nation
The State and Political Class Struggle
The State as a Strategic Terrain
A Relational Approach to State Power
A Critique of the Relative Autonomy of the State
A Critique of the Class Unity of the State
The Double Determination of Hegemony
Macro-Necessity and Micro-Contingency
Concluding Remarks
108
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113
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119
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125
128
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135
137
141
143
PART III SOCIAL CLASSES, IDEOLOGY, AND CLASS
STRUGGLE
6 Social Classes and Class Alliances
Early Views on Class
Social Classes and Class Powers
Some Points of Clarification
Two Points of Criticism
Social Classes and Relations of Production
The Role of Class Struggle in Class Determination
Class Determination and Class Position
Social Classes and Social Categories
The Expanded Reproduction of Social Classes
From Structuralist Marxism to Political Strategy
The Petty Bourgeoisie
The Rural Classes
The Interior Bourgeoisie
The Primacy of the Political?
The Internationalisation of Capital
Social Classes and Political Parties
Political Parties and Political Representation
Social Classes and Social Movements
Some Unresolved Difficulties
A Way Forward?
Concluding Remarks
7 Ideology, the State and Ideological Confrontation
From Weltanschauungen to Egemonia
Towards a Regional Theory of Ideology
The Ideological State Apparatus
Ideological Sub-Ensembles and Ideological Class Struggle
Critique and Counter-Critique
In Defense of Poulantzas
149
149
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159
163
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169
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200
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206
212Intellectuals, Parties, and Ideological Contestation
The Division between Mental and Manual Labour
Concluding Remarks on Ideological Class Domination
PART IV
217
221
224
PROBLEMS OF POLITICAL STRATEGY
8 Fascism and Dictatorship 229
9 Military Regimes and Anti-Dictatorial Struggles 263
The Context of Fascism
The Power Bloc and the Crisis of Hegemony
The Successive Steps of Fascism
Fascism and the Petty Bourgeoisie
Fascism in the Countryside
Fascism and the Working Class
The Rise of Fascism in Retrospect
Fascism as an Exceptional State
Reorganising the State under Fascism
The ISAs and Mass Mobilisation under Fascism
How Fascist Regimes Served Monopoly Capital
The Resistance to Fascism
The Theoretical Critique offered in FD
On the Relative Autonomy and Class Functions of Fascism
On the Unity of the Fascist State
Some Unanswered Questions
In Defense of Poulantzas
Concluding Remarks
First Thoughts on the Greek Coup
Dependent Industrialisation in Southern Europe
The Power Bloc in Dependent States
Popular Struggles and Political Crisis
Democratisation and the Transition to Socialism
The Portuguese Experiment
Democratisation - an Overview
Anti-dictatorial Alliances and Democratisation
Poulantzas on the United Front
Poulantzas on the Popular Front
Alliance Strategies for Greece
Left Unity in Greece?
A Critical Appraisal of CD
Strategic Conclusions
10 The Democratic Transition to Democratic Socialism
The Decline of Capitalist Democracy
Democratic Socialism
Direct and/or Representative Democracy?
The Crisis of Political Parties
New Social Movements and Democratic Socialism
The Working Class and Political Democracy
Poulantzas and Left Eurocommunism
Poulantzas and Austro-Marxism
Some Unresolved Difficulties
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295
295
298
299The Dilemmas of a Democratic Socialist Transition
Is a Democratic Transition Possible?
Concluding Remarks
PART V
303
306
309
RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT
11 Further Remarks on the Three Sources
The Originality of Marx and Poulantzas
Poulantzas and French Philosophy
Poulantzas and Sartre
Poulantzas and Althusser
Poulantzas and Foucault
Poulantzas and Italian Politics
Poulantzas and Romano-German Law
The Three Sources Combined
Changing Philosophical Positions
Althusser, Foucault, and Poulantzas
Philosophical Preconditions?
The Primacy of Political Involvements
Concluding Remarks
313
313
315
315
317
318
320
322
324
325
327
329
331
332
12 Beyond Poulantzas 336
Bibliography for Poulantzas
Name Index
Subject Index 365
379
381
The State as a Social Relation
Poulantzas's Theoretical Agenda
Poulantzas and the Concept of Strategy
Towards a 'Strategic-Theoretical' Approach
Forms of Class Domination
Class Hegemonies and Class Strategies
Some Points of Clarification
Are there Global Strategies?
Structure and Strategy
An Exceptional Western Marxist?
336
339
340
343
345
347
353
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360