Abstract

In his assessment of Miliband, Poulantzas objects that instead of attacking orthodox theory by presenting a different “problematic,” or set of theoretical constructs, Miliband opposes concepts with facts, thereby ““placing himself on their own terrain.” The warning is appropriate and is one that I intend to heed in considering Poulantzas's work. I will therefore not present an alternative set of data, nor examine the internal consistency of his categories, although this would represent a legitimate approach. Instead, I intend to examine certain of Poulantzas's key concepts by considering their origins in Althusser and before him in the work of Bachelard