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conomism intercommunalism postcolonialism scientific socialism vanguardism vulgar marxism movements communism history left wing politics new old ultra municipalism socialism authoritarian democratic eco market reformist revolutionary social democracy utopian practices collectivization nationalization planned economy worker cooperative workers council communism portal socialism portal politics portal v t e nicos poulantzas greek νίκος πουλαντζάς 21 september 1936 3 october 1979 was a greek french marxist political philosopher and sociologist in the 1970s he became a leading figure in the structuralist marxist school of thought he is best known for his theoretical work on the state social class fascism and authoritarianism his work was influential in critiquing traditional communist views and developing a sophisticated marxist theory of the capitalist state born in greece poulantzas moved to france in 1960 where he spent the remainder of his life initially influenced by the existentialist marxism of jean paul sartre he later became associated with the structuralist school of louis althusser his first major work political power and social classes 1968 presented a structuralist theory of the state as relatively autonomous from the direct control of the capitalist class serving instead as a factor of cohesion for the social formation his subsequent work analysed exceptional forms of the state such as in fascism and dictatorship 1970 and addressed contemporary class structures in classes in contemporary capitalism 1974 poulantzas was a prominent figure in the eurocommunist wing of european communism and his theoretical work was closely tied to political strategy he was an active member of the communist party of greece interior and engaged in debates on the democratic road to socialism in his final book state power socialism 1978 he moved toward a relational theory of the state defining it as the material condensation of a relationship of forces between classes this later work showed an engagement with the ideas of michel foucault conceptualising the state as a strategic terrain rather than a monolithic entity he died by suicide in paris in 1979 life edit early life and education edit nicos poulantzas was born in athens on 21 september 1936 to a well established family 5 his father aristides poulantzas was a prominent professor of forensic graphology poulantzas demonstrated a precocious intellect attending the experimental peiramaticon gymnasium attached to the university of athens he also studied at the local institut français acquiring fluency in french 6 in 1953 he entered the school of law at athens university his decision to study law was not motivated by a desire for a legal career but rather because it was the only way within the prestigious university to pursue his interests in philosophy and the social sciences 7 during his student years he was broadly sympathetic to marxism and became involved in broad left politics he belonged to a student organisation loosely affiliated with the clandestine communist party of greece kke and participated in the united democratic left eda which functioned as a legal front for the kke the main issue around which he agitated was the cyprus question a nationalist cause with broad popular support he was briefly arrested in 1955 for his participation in a demonstration on this topic 8 after graduating with an excellent grade in 1957 he served his compulsory military service in the greek navy working in the translation service in athens and later in crete 5 7 move to france and academic career edit after completing his military service poulantzas moved to west germany in 1960 for postgraduate work initially in munich however within a month he wrote to his father that the influence of nazi ideas was too strong for him to stay and he relocated to paris to continue his studies 5 in paris he quickly secured a teaching assistantship charge de cours in the philosophy of law at the panthéon sorbonne university 5 9 he completed a postgraduate thesis on the rebirth of natural law in germany in 1961 followed by his doctoral dissertation nature des choses et droit the nature of things and law in 1964 5 9 during this period poulantzas became deeply involved in french intellectual circles particularly with the group around jean paul sartre and simone de beauvoir s journal les temps modernes from 1964 he became a regular contributor to the journal on law politics and philosophy 10 11 in 1963 he met the novelist annie leclerc they married on 6 december 1966 and their daughter ariane was born in 1970 12 his academic career progressed with an appointment at the centre national de la recherche scientifique from 1966 to 1972 12 political activism and intellectual shifts edit louis althusser a major influence on poulantzas poulantzas joined the kke in paris around 1961 and remained active in the eda until 1966 13 his political and theoretical work began to shift away from the existentialist marxism of his early years he was increasingly influenced by the work of louis althusser and the structuralist marxist school as well as by italian marxists such as antonio gramsci and lucio colletti 14 a decisive event in his political mobilisation was the military coup in greece in 1967 poulantzas became a founding member and consistent activist in the anti dictatorial committee of greeks in paris 1 the soviet invasion of czechoslovakia in 1968 led to a split in the kke poulantzas sided with the anti stalinist eurocommunist faction which became known as the kke interior from this point until his death he developed his political views within the ranks of this party albeit often from a position to its left 15 16 his major work political power and social classes pouvoir politique et classes sociales appeared just before the may 1968 events in france and established his reputation as a major state theorist 17 1 his 1969 critique of ralph miliband s the state in capitalist society initiated the miliband poulantzas debate which brought him to prominence in the english speaking world 18 19 following the may 1968 events he was invited to teach sociology at the experimental university of paris viii at vincennes an institution created to decentralise and modernise the french university system 19 later years and death edit throughout the 1970s poulantzas s work focused on analysing exceptional states imperialism and the strategy for a democratic transition to socialism the collapse of the military dictatorships in southern europe greece 1974 portugal 1974 and spain after 1975 provided a concrete context for his theoretical work 15 20 he analysed these transitions in the crisis of the dictatorships 1975 in which he began to develop a relational theory of the state as a field of struggle 21 20 following the fall of the greek junta he returned to his homeland contributed to greek political life through journalism and lectured at the panteion university in athens 22 in his later years in paris he engaged critically with the work of michel foucault and the nouveaux philosophes 23 22 he became active in the french left s struggle for unity particularly in the context of the union de la gauche and helped form the mélusine group of intellectuals to foster debate across the left 24 his final book state power socialism 1978 further developed his relational theory of the state engaging with foucault s concepts of power while maintaining a marxist framework 25 26 nicos poulantzas died by suicide in paris on 3 october 1979 at the age of 43 27 26 work edit influences edit poulantzas s originality lies in his unique synthesis of three distinct intellectual traditions within a marxist framework french philosophy italian marxism and romano german law 28 french philosophy this was a constant reference point throughout his career he began under the influence of jean paul sartre s existentialism from which he derived his early relational concepts and his internal external dialectical method 29 30 he then moved to the structuralism of louis althusser which provided the epistemological justification for his regional theory of the state and his critique of humanism and historicism 31 32 in his final phase he engaged critically with michel foucault incorporating his relational concept of power analysis of disciplines and idea of the state as a strategic terrain while rejecting foucault s neglect of class and the repressive role of the state 33 34 italian marxism the influence of italian political thought particularly that of antonio gramsci is central to poulantzas s work on political strategy from gramsci he adopted and developed key concepts such as hegemony the power bloc and the distinction between political and civil society which he later re formulated 35 36 his later move toward a left eurocommunist strategy was also influenced by contemporary debates in the italian communist party particularly the ingrao left 37 romano german law poulantzas s legal training provided a durable foundation for his analysis of the state his entire theory of the normal capitalist state is built on the premise that it is a rechtsstaat a state based on the rule of law concepts such as legal sovereignty the separation of powers and the distinction between public and private law are central to his account of the state s institutional structure his analysis of the state s unity was influenced by the legal positivism of hans kelsen even as he criticised its philosophical underpinnings 38 early work existentialism and law edit poulantzas s early work culminating in his 1964 doctoral dissertation nature des choses et droit the nature of things and law was situated within an existentialist marxist framework heavily influenced by jean paul sartre lucien goldmann and georg lukács 29 39 in this period his primary philosophical project was to synthesise existentialism and marxism to transcend the dualism between fact and value particularly in the philosophy of law 5 40 he drew on the german legal concept of the nature of things natur der sache but reinterpreted it through french existentialism to argue for a dialectical unity of fact and value immanent in human action 5 41 his analysis was based on a humanist ontology of man in the world who is always in association with others he argued that this social existence implies a unity of fact and value as human beings exist and act through values embodied in projects 42 he combined this ontology with a marxist sociology of society as a structural totality of base and superstructure arguing that law s specific form is determined in the last instance by the economic level mediated by the weltanschauung worldview of the dominant class 43 poulantzas later renounced this early work criticising it for its historicism and humanism 44 however elements of this period particularly his use of a legal framework to analyse the state and his internal external dialectical method continued to influence his later theories 10 theory of the capitalist state edit cover of the first english edition of poulantzas s political power and social classes 1968 poulantzas is best known for his theory of the capitalist state which he developed from a structuralist marxist perspective primarily in political power and social classes 1968 he rejected both instrumentalist views of the state as a simple tool of the ruling class and theories of the state as a neutral subject representing a general will 17 45 relative autonomy and the power bloc edit poulantzas s central concept is the relative autonomy of the state he argued that the capitalist state must be relatively autonomous from the particular interests of individual capitalist fractions in order to organise the long term general political interests of the capitalist class as a whole 46 47 this autonomy is structurally guaranteed by the institutional separation of the political and economic spheres in capitalism unlike in pre capitalist modes of production where economic exploitation involved direct political and ideological coercion capitalism is based on the formally free exchange of labour power this allows the state to appear as a separate public entity representing the unity of the nation distinct from the private sphere of economic competition 17 48 the state s function is to act as the factor of social cohesion in a class divided society 49 50 it achieves this by performing two complementary tasks it disorganises the dominated classes by constituting them as individual citizens rather than as a collective class this isolation effect prevents the political organisation of the working class and other subordinate groups 51 it organises the dominant class since the capitalist class is itself divided into competing fractions e g industrial commercial and financial capital the state must organise them into a coherent political alliance which poulantzas following gramsci called the power bloc 18 52 the power bloc is unified under the leadership of one hegemonic fraction which manages the negotiation of interests among the dominant classes and secures the consent of the dominated classes through material concessions and ideological means 35 53 the state therefore is not a monolithic entity but is traversed by contradictions between different class fractions which are reflected in struggles between different branches and apparatuses of the state e g between the legislature and the executive 54 exceptional states and authoritarian statism edit poulantzas distinguished between the normal form of the capitalist state the bourgeois democratic republic and exceptional states like fascism and military dictatorships 55 56 normal states correspond to periods of stable bourgeois hegemony where domination is exercised primarily through consent and constitutionalised violence exceptional states emerge in response to a profound political crisis a crisis of hegemony where no class or fraction can assert its leadership through normal democratic means these regimes suspend democratic institutions and rely more heavily on open repression 57 benito mussolini and adolf hitler whose fascist regimes poulantzas analyzed in fascism and dictatorship 1970 poulantzas analysed fascism in italy and germany as an exceptional state that arose during the transition to monopoly capitalism he argued that fascism served the interests of monopoly capital by smashing the labour movement and reorganising the power bloc under its hegemony however he rejected simplistic accounts stressing that fascism was not a mere tool but had a specific mass base in the petty bourgeoisie whose revolt it mobilised and whose ideology it initially reflected 58 59 he contrasted the flexible fascist regimes with their mass party and complex ideological apparatuses with the more brittle military dictatorships of southern europe which lacked a popular base and were more prone to internal collapse 60 in his later work poulantzas developed the concept of authoritarian ...