Nicos Poulantzas | |
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Born | |
Died | 3 October 1979 | (aged 43)
Education | School of Law, University of Athens (BA, 1957) University of Munich[1] University of Heidelberg[1] University of Paris (PhD, 1964) |
Era | 20th-century philosophy |
Region | Western philosophy |
School | Continental philosophy Western Marxism/structural Marxism |
Institutions | Paris 8 University |
Main interests | Political philosophy |
Notable ideas | The relative autonomy of the state from the capitalist class |
Nicos Poulantzas (Greek: Νίκος Πουλαντζάς [ˈnikos pulanˈd͡zas]; 21 September 1936 – 3 October 1979) was a Greek-French Marxist political sociologist and philosopher. In the 1970s, Poulantzas was known, along with Louis Althusser, as a leading structural Marxist; while at first a Leninist, he eventually became a proponent of the "democratic road to socialism."[2][3] He is best known for his theoretical work on the state, but he also offered Marxist contributions to the analysis of fascism, social class in the contemporary world, and the collapse of dictatorships in Southern Europe in the 1970s, such as Francisco Franco's rule in Spain, António de Oliveira Salazar's in Portugal, and Georgios Papadopoulos' in Greece.