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Administering Civil Society: Towards a Theory of State Power
To preserve social order the state must administer civil society, with a threefold purpose - the fashioning of the market, the constitution of legal subjectivity and the subsumption of struggle. In Administering Civil Society Mark Neocleous offers a rethinking of the state-civil society distinction through the idea of political administration. This is achieved through an original reading of Hegel's Philosophy of Right and an insightful critique of Foucault's account of power and administration. The outcome is a highly provocative theory of state power.
247 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
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November 23, 2015
Mark Neocleous' first book already proves he is a heavyweight.
The drive is pretty straightforward: through comparing Marx and Hegel, Neocleous establishes a set of questions regarding the civil society as a problematic political object and contrasting the state/civil society and the base/superstructure configurations, shows that the role of the state and what he refers to as political 'administration' becomes a problem for much of Marxist and leftist theory. Then, through a detailed critique of the Second International, Althusser, Gramsci, Foucault and the like, shows the role of administration has been excluded from Marxian political theory.
In the last two chapters, Neocleous opens up a debate about the role of administration in Britain and shows how the problems of law, administration and the ways how the state has been depoliticized open up blind spots in much New Left theory.
In many ways valuable for its critiques of much of Marxist thought, for an insightful thesis about the role of the state in Marxist theory and as well a very extensive bibliography that avoids leaving too much to speculation. While I personally don't agree with some of his reading (of Foucault, for example), the argument is presented well.
Recommended to everyone interested in theories of the State.
Now I'm only wondering why for all of its value, this book didn't make it to being a wide-read Verso or Pluto paperback.
The drive is pretty straightforward: through comparing Marx and Hegel, Neocleous establishes a set of questions regarding the civil society as a problematic political object and contrasting the state/civil society and the base/superstructure configurations, shows that the role of the state and what he refers to as political 'administration' becomes a problem for much of Marxist and leftist theory. Then, through a detailed critique of the Second International, Althusser, Gramsci, Foucault and the like, shows the role of administration has been excluded from Marxian political theory.
In the last two chapters, Neocleous opens up a debate about the role of administration in Britain and shows how the problems of law, administration and the ways how the state has been depoliticized open up blind spots in much New Left theory.
In many ways valuable for its critiques of much of Marxist thought, for an insightful thesis about the role of the state in Marxist theory and as well a very extensive bibliography that avoids leaving too much to speculation. While I personally don't agree with some of his reading (of Foucault, for example), the argument is presented well.
Recommended to everyone interested in theories of the State.
Now I'm only wondering why for all of its value, this book didn't make it to being a wide-read Verso or Pluto paperback.
Displaying 1 of 1 review