The theory of the State in the István Mészáros' work: a brief approach

Abstract

In this paper, we aim to analyze the theory of the State in the István Mészáros’ work. We argue that his critique of the State can be glimpsed in statu nasdendi already in his important study of Marx's theory of alienation. Later it receives extensive treatment in his Magnum Opus, Beyond Capital: Towards a Theory of Transition, when he analyzes the conditions of emergence, development and (structural) crisis of the sociometabolic system of capital in contemporaneity. We can say that even before the incomplete and post mortem publication of Beyond Leviathan: Critique of the State Mészáros had already left a powerful contemporary theory of the State. But it is in this work that we find a sophisticated treatment of problems such as the “affirmation of the Law of the Strongest”, the “illegality as an imposition of state formations” and the “withering away of the state”. In this way, we seek to contribute to the debate on the Marxist theory of the State today.

Keywords:  Contemporary Marxist theory of the State; Structural crisis of capital; State bankruptcy; Withering away of the state