A Critical Evaluation of Poulantzas's Theory of the State

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to evaluate Nicos Poulantzas's theory of (capitalist) state based on the general characteristics of his conceptual framework. Poulantzas is a pre-eminent figure in the state theory not only due to the debates that he participated or that are drawn upon his position, but mainly due to the key theoretical means that his framework provides for analysing capitalist state, considering the developmental line of his complicated works. In this sense, this paper shares the view that Poulantzas's works do involve certain features of a relational, a non-reductionist theory of state which provide essential means to grasp the capitalist state with its different types.