ABSTRACT

The widespread crisis of the model of an interventionist state and the emergence of a globalized neoliberal economy have led to a reshaping of state, society, and economy relations. The fall of statism goes back to the 1970’s and the reversal of the tendency of the treble affluence which spanned four decades and consisted of the simultaneous growth of the GNP, income of families, and public expenditure. The expansion of state intervention had been until then a widespread process; even in the most conservative regimes of capitalist countries the state had turned into the economy regulator, a large-scale industrial producer, as well as an arbiter and conciliator between the concurrent social interests (Cameron 1978; Lindebeck 1985). Different interpretations of political economy based on the theories of fiscal crisis (O’Connor), of state overload (Buchanan and Tullock), and the ungovernability (Offe) submitted, from different angles, the system’s impossibility to respond to the rising economic and social demands considered legitimate by the different sectors of society (Orlansky 1991).