عنوان

Metatheories of the state.

Number

TLets363379

Title Proper

Metatheories of the state.

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Smith, Mark J.

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

University of Sussex

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

1997

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

University of Sussex

Text preceding or following the note

1997

Text of Note

Metatheories of the State is a contribution to reinterpreting contemporary state theorythrough an account of three leading approaches in recent political theory.Metatheorising, as a form of critical analysis and exegesis, is portrayed as a sensitiveexploratory technique which serves as a means of situating social and political theoriesin terms of their historical and social context as well as in terms of their epistemologicaland ontological assumptions. This thesis focuses upon three distinctive approaches inthe field of state theory through an examination and theoretical reconstruction of keypositions in Neo-Pluralism, Neo-Liberalism and Neo-Marxism. Each of the approachesconsidered is situated and assessed in terms of their epistemological and ontologicalframe of reference (their position in relationship to approaches within the philosophy ofsocial science), as well as in terms of their contribution to the theorisation of therelationship between the state and society. This thesis addresses the tendency of statetheorists to treat the state as the 'horizon' for the constitution of the social order ratherthan as an object in its own right with its own imperatives, structure and rationale. Ineach case, the substantive focus of analysis (polyarchic civility for Dahl, catallacticrelations for Hayek and processes of societalisation for Jessop) is identified in relationto the state as a boundary or as a set of parameters which limit the operation of, andprovide the conditions of possibility of social relations. Finally, this investigationhighlights their distinctive models of causality within different accounts of knowledgeconstruction in order to demonstrate the way in which realism is understood in relationto empiricism and idealism in social scientific practice.

Polyarchy; Catallaxy; Societalisation; Realism

Smith, Mark J.

University of Sussex

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y