Statism, New Institutionalism, and Marxism

Abstract

From the late 1970s on, a literature stressing the autonomy of the state developed rapidly in comparative sociology and political science, in direct confrontation with Marxism. In the middle 1980s it gave rise to the 'new institutionalism'. This essay addresses the relationship of each to Marxism. I argue that both approaches caricature Marxist arguments, and that the case they make for themselves as superior alternatives depends upon their so doing. Secondly, I suggest that classical and contemporary Marxism makes better sense of the material presented by statists and new institutionalists than they do themselves. The attempt to create a 'statist' alternative to Marxism largely failed, and the 'new institutionalism' is evidence of its failure.