ABSTRACT
It is a frequently acknowledged fact that neither Marx nor subsequent Marxist theorists have produced a specific theory of power or of politics (e.g., Anderson, 1976, pp. 44–5, refers to the ‘studied silence of Western Marxism’ vis-à-vis ‘analysis of the political machinery of the bourgeois state’; see also Poulantzas, 1973, pp. 21, 99). Despite this, some Marxist theorists have attempted to develop a political theory out of Marx's work. Notable amongst these attempts in its relevance for a theory of power is the work of Nicos Poulantzas. There is neither the space nor the necessity in this work to provide a full account and analysis of his contribution to Marxist analysis. Instead, I will concentrate on the issue of dispute which Lukes (1974) makes with Poulantzas: that of structural determination.
