Abstract

Fifty years after the question raised by Bobbio on whether exists a Marxist doctrine of the State and after the debate between Miliband and Poulantzas on the nature of the capitalistic State, Beyond Leviathan by Istvan Mészàros aims at developing a new theory of the State in Marxist terms. This paper deals with Mészàros’ book reasoning, underlining similarities and differences between this last work and the author’s previous ones (especially Beyond Capital). In the last paragraph, I will stress some problems which arise from the book, and from the way in which Mészàros thought of the problem of the State. Despite his aims, in fact, Mészàros political philosophy does not develop a critique of politics able to integrate and improve the critique of political economy