Critical notes on the Literature on the State, state policies, and political actors

Abstract

In this critical discussion of some of the most relevant recent contributions to the study of the State, special attention is devoted to the most important actors within policy-making and enforcement. The main arguments put forward in four groups of studies are reviewed and discussed: recent traditions in neo-Marxism and in neo-institutionalism, French sectoral analysis, and the US State-in-society approach. Comparisons between the four are drawn particularly as regards two fundamental questions: the nature of the State and the role actors play in proposing, managing, and dealing with the results of public policies. The discussion makes it possible to underscore, in theoretical terms, three actors that must indispensably be analyzed in joint and integrated fashion when studying State policies: the capitals present in the production of each policy; State agents; and professional communities.102