ABSTRACT
The state is autonomous when state managers have goals of their own and the institutional capacity to make decisions and execute them. Some of the pure types of states discussed above are autonomous in this sense. According to several theories, however, the state is in various ways and to varying degrees autonomous - from voters, groups, or classes - even under democratic institutions [Krasner, 1978; Nordlinger, 1981; Poulantzas, 1973; Skocpol, 1985]. Even in a democracy, state officials - elected politicians and appointed bureaucrats - are not perfect agents of the public on whose behalf they perform responsibilities: they do not act in the best interest of citizens.
