Nature of the State: Marxist Critique and its Divergences in Contemporary World

Authors

  • Mahendra Sapkota Central Department of Rural Development, Tribhuvan University, Nepal

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3126/ajia.v1i1.44756

Keywords:

Marxism, Neo-Marxism, Post-Marxism, State

Abstract

This paper seeks to synthesize the scientific issues of the Marxist critique of the State. Taking insights from secondary literature, it discusses the concept and characteristics of the State in general and then specifies the contestations of the Marxist perspective on the nature of the State. The paper illustrates how classical Marxism perceives State as a unilinear product of class struggle and serves the welfare of the dominant class. However, the recent developments in Marxism have raised questions to the realist and structural perspective of the State. The Neo-Marxist and post-Marxist scholars contributed along with the concepts of ideology, changing relations of base-structure, hegemony, State apparatus, and crisis in the purist form of class. This paper concludes that these developments are unavoidable in the present-day Marxist discourse which can be theoretically levelled as multi-realist and post-structural critiques of the State. It is expected that the implication of the paper lies to foster the Marxist critique of the state, primarily in different social science disciplines including political science, international relations, economics, and development studies.

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Author Biography

Mahendra Sapkota, Central Department of Rural Development, Tribhuvan University, Nepal

Dr. Mahendra Sapkota is a senior faculty member at Central Department of Rural Development, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. Dr. Sapkota holds PhD in Development Studies. Currently, he is pursuing Post-doctoral research in Tibetan Studies at the School of Sociology and Ethnology, Yunnan University, China.

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Published

2021-12-31

How to Cite

Sapkota, M. (2021). Nature of the State: Marxist Critique and its Divergences in Contemporary World. Asian Journal of International Affairs, 1(1), 99–117. https://doi.org/10.3126/ajia.v1i1.44756

Issue

Section

Research Articles