New Left Review I/95, January-February 1976

Nicos Poulantzas

The Capitalist State: A Reply to Miliband and Laclau

Six years ago, the publication of Ralph Miliband’s The State in Capitalist Society gave rise to a debate between the author and myself in the columns of New Left Review. [1] I reviewed the book and Miliband responded, presenting in the process a critique of my own Pouvoir politique et classes sociales. [2] I did not reply to this critique at the time; nor did I do so when Miliband subsequently published a full-length review of my book, on the occasion of its appearance in English. [3] However, now that English-speaking readers are in a position to refer to both my second book, Fascism and Dictatorship, and my more recent Classes in Contemporary Capitalism, I feel that the moment has come to continue the debate. [4] For if discussion is to be useful and not run in circles, it should draw its strength from new evidence; this new evidence in my case being the writings I have published since Political Power.

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