State Transformations: Classes, Strategy, Socialism(Studies in Critical Social Sciences)

It is often remarked that critical - and especially Marxist - state theory began to lose its central place in the study of comparative politics in the 1980s. Ironically, this shift occurred just as neoliberal policies were transforming the social form and spatial scales of the state, radically restructuring the practices of state economic intervention, and extending the capabilities of the coercive arms of the state. This volume addresses the 'impoverishment of state theory' over the last decades and insists on the continued salience of class analysis to the study of states. The book's title, State Transformations, reflects several central themes in the comparative study of states: the neoliberal restructuring of capitalist states, the changing economic and political architecture of imperialism, and the prospects of a democratic transformation of capitalist states. The essays collected here are intended to honor the memory of Leo Panitch, whose influential body of work has shaped debates on the state, imperialism, and socialism over the past four decades. Contributors are: Clyde W. Barrow, Caio Bugiato, Frank Deppe, Ruth Felder, Ana Garcia, Sam Gindin, Doug Henwood, Martijn Konings, Colin Leys, Sebnem Oguz, Bryan D. Palmer, Dennis Pilon, Larry Savage, Charles Smith, Michalis Spourdalakis and Hilary Wainwright.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Introduction State TransformationsIntroduction: State Transformations    Greg Albo, Stephen Maher and Alan Zuege part 1 State Theory and Capitalist Democracy 1 From the Canadian State to the Making of Global Capitalism    Clyde W. Barrow 2 Beyond the Impasse of State Theory    Martijn Konings 3 Working-Class Politics Matters Identity, Class, Parties    Dennis Pilon and Larry Savage part 2 Imperialist Restructuring and Global Capitalism 4 Globalization as Internationalization of Capital Understanding Imperialism and State Restructuring    Sebnem Oguz 5 The State and Imperialism in International Relations Theory    Ana Garcia and Caio Bugiato 6 Bringing Class Back in The State, the ‘Pink Tide’, and the Case of Argentina    Ruth Felder part 3 From Neoliberalism to Political Crisis 7 The Rebirth of Nationalism and the Crisis of the European Union    Frank Deppe 8 The UK’s Organic Crisis    Colin Leys 9 The Coronacrisis A Body Blow to the Rotting American State    Doug Henwood 10 The State, Trade Union Freedoms, and the Impasse of Working-Class Power in Canada    Charles Smith part 4 Transforming Class Politics and the State 11 Transformative Agency from a Time of Revolt to a Time of Pandemic    Hilary Wainwright 12 Class Politics and Strategies for Party Building    Michalis Spourdalakis 13 Notes toward a Plausible Socialism    Sam Gindin 14 Between the State and the Streets A Study in Socialist Sobriety    Bryan D. Palmer  Postscript    Greg Albo, Stephen Maher and Alan Zuege References Index  

About the Author :
Greg Albo teaches Political Economy in the Department of Politics at York University. He has recently co-edited Divided Province: Ontario Politics in the Age of Neoliberalism (2018); Beyond Market Dystopia (2020); and Beyond Digital Capitalism (2021). Stephen Maher is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Ontario Tech University. He is assistant editor of the Socialist Register, and co-author with Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin of the second edition of The Socialist Challenge Today (2020). Alan Zuege is an assistant editor of the Socialist Register and co-editor of the Socialist Register Classics book series with Haymarket Books. He has also co-edited Phases of Capitalist Development; Value and the World Economy Today; and The Globalization Decade.