State Power

by Jessop, Bob

• ISBN13: 9780745633213
• ISBN10: 0745633218
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-02-04
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

Bob Jessop presents an up-to-date account of his distinctive approach to the dialectics of structure and strategy in the exercise of state power. While his earlier work critically surveys other state theories, this book focuses on the development of his own strategic-relational approach. It introduces its main sources, outlines its development, applies this approach to four case studies, and sketches a strategic-relational research agenda. Thus the book presents a comprehensive theoretical statement of the approach and guidelines for its application. Key features of the book include: an account of the authors theoretical development; a review of recent developments in state theory and the cultural turn in political economy; critical strategic-relational re-readings of major state theorists Marx on political representation, Gramsci on the spatiality of state power, Poulantzas on the state as a social relation, and the later Foucault on statecraft; applications of the strategic-relational approach to important issues concerning the contemporary state: its gendered selectivity, the future of the national state, the states temporal sovereignty, and the relevance of multi-scalar meta-governance in Europe for the more general future of the state. The book concludes with recommendations for future strategic-relational research in political economy and state theory.

Author Biography

Bob Jessop is Professor of Sociology at Lancaster University.

Table of Contents

List of Boxes, Figures, and Tables	p. x
List of Abbreviations	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xii
General Introduction	p. 1
What is the State?	p. 2
A Preliminary Definition of the State	p. 9
'Putting This Book in Its Place'	p. 12
Theorizing the State
The Development of the Strategic-Relational Approach	p. 21
Three Sources of the Strategic-Relational State Approach	p. 22
The First Phase in the Strategic-Relational Approach	p. 27
The Second Phase in the Strategic-Relational Approach	p. 38
The Third Phase in the Strategic-Relational Approach	p. 47
Interim Strategic-Relational Conclusions	p. 52
Bringing the State Back in (Yet Again)	p. 54
The Marxist Revival and the Strategic-Relational Approach	p. 56
Strategic-Relational Tendencies in the Second Wave	p. 61
New Directions of Research	p. 76
Conclusions	p. 78
Sources of the Strategic-Relational Approach
Marx on Political Representation and the State	p. 83
What Does The Eighteenth Brumaire Accomplish?	p. 85
On Periodization	p. 88
The Political Stage	p. 89
The Social Content of Politics	p. 91
The State Apparatus and Its Trajectory	p. 93
More on Political Representation	p. 94
Conclusions	p. 98
Gramsci on the Geography of State Power	p. 101
Spatializing the Philosophy of Praxis	p. 101
Gramsci and the Southern Question	p. 108
Gramsci on Americanism and Fordism	p. 110
Gramsci on Territoriality and State Power	p. 112
Gramsci and International Relations	p. 113
Conclusions	p. 116
Poulantzas on the State as a Social Relation	p. 118
Marxist Theory and Political Strategy	p. 119
New Methodological Considerations	p. 120
The State and Political Class Struggle	p. 122
The Relational Approach and Strategic Selectivity	p. 125
Re-Reading Poulantzas	p. 126
Exceptional Elements in the Contemporary State	p. 129
Periodizing the Class Struggle	p. 133
The Spatio-Temporal Matrix of the State	p. 134
Conclusions	p. 137
Foucault on State, State Formation, and Statecraft	p. 140
Foucault and the 'Crisis of Marxism'	p. 140
Poulantzas and Foucault Compared	p. 142
The Analytics of Power versus State Theory	p. 147
Foucault as a Genealogist of Statecraft	p. 149
With Foucault beyond Foucault	p. 151
Conclusions	p. 153
Applying the Strategic-Relational Approach
The Gender Selectivities of the State	p. 157
Analysing Gender Selectivities	p. 157
Gender Selectivities in the State	p. 163
Strategic Selectivity and Strategic Action	p. 168
Conclusions	p. 174
Spatio-Temporal Dynamics and Temporal Sovereignty	p. 178
Globalization Defined	p. 178
Globalization and the Spatial Turn	p. 180
Some Spatio-Temporal Contradictions of Globalizing Capitalism	p. 186
The Implications of Globalization for (National) States	p. 189
Conclusions	p. 196
Multiscalar Metagovernance in the European Union	p. 198
State-Centric Perspectives	p. 198
Governance-Centric Approaches	p. 202
Changes in Statehood in Advanced Capitalist Societies	p. 209
The EU as a Schumpeterian Workfare Post-National Regime	p. 212
The European Union and Multiscalar Metagovernance	p. 218
Conclusions	p. 222
Complexity, Contingent Necessity, Semiosis, and the SRA	p. 225
Complexity and Contingent Necessity	p. 225
Complexity and the Strategic-Relational Approach	p. 233
Complexity Reduction and Cultural Political Economy	p. 236
Towards a New Strategic-Relational Agenda	p. 240
Conclusions	p. 243
Notes	p. 246
Bibliography	p. 251
Index	p. 287
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