Developing the regional theory

pp. 84-114

in: Bob Jessop, Nicos Poulantzas, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1985

Abstract

In many respects the arguments in PPSC were retained in subsequent work. Thus the introduction to his final book, SPS, reproduces many themes from his earlier text. Yet Poulantzas also developed these arguments to different degrees and even abandoned some of them. In this chapter I consider five key areas where his ideas went well beyond those of PPSC. The first area involves the fundamental structural matrix of capitalism and concerns the articulation of the economic and political. Second, I consider how Poulantzas relates the changing economic role of the state to the political class struggle. A third area concerns Poulantzas's views on economic and political crises. In turn this has implications for the juridico-political level. For it is in this context that one must examine the distinction between "normal" and "exceptional" states. Finally, proceeding from this distinction, I examine Poulantzas's views on authoritarian statism.