The Peripheralization of the Greek State A Poulantzasian Analysis of the Development of the Greek State since the Introduction of the first Structural Adjustment Program in 2010 (original) (raw)
The aim of this working paper is to develop a theoretical framework that enables a deeperunderstanding of the transformations of the Greek state since the introduction of the firststructural adjustment program in 2010. The main hypothesis is that this process can bedescribed as a ‘peripheralization’. Such a description, however, necessitates an adequateconceptualization of the peripheral type of state in the first place. In order to enable asystematic and genuinely state-theoretical development of both these concepts, NicosPoulantzas’s works will be examined for corresponding contributions. In particular, hisdescription of the state as a material condensation of relations of forces based on the relativeautonomy of the state and the notion of the imperialist chain are of central importance here.They enable a conceptualization of peripheral statehood without reducing it to either internalor external factors only. On this basis plus an evaluation of Poulantzas’s less known bookThe Crisis of the Dictatorships, the peripheral type of state will be characterized as aninterplay of class struggle and the position of the dependent social formation within theimperialist chain. Thereby, this working paper adds further important aspects to the growingreception of Poulantzas’s work in recent years.
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