ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the specificity of the periphery’s class structure and draws its implications for the objective pressure on ‘the peripheral state’. It begins with a discussion on the extent to which production structure in the periphery is ‘auto-centric’, and examines the specific character of capitalism in the periphery. The peripheral capitalist state can be responsible for real subsumption, both by working with, and independently of, imperialism. Imperialism is the objective condition under which the peripheral state, more or less, must work and reproduce the peripheral social formation not only as capitalist but also as imperialized. The chapter also discusses the class-alliance that holds state power, the state in relation to the struggle of the lower classes, and failure of the state to meet their needs, the coercive nature of the peripheral state, and the potential threat to state’s legitimacy.
