The state is not an impartial umpire balancing the demands of various groups in society but the vehicle by which one class maintains its rule over another”. Neo-Marxist theories of the state are built directly upon the class view of society. They have said, “The starting point of the neo-Marxist theory of the state is Marx’s analysis of class relations and the forms of exploitation found in history. Theodore Lowi and Edward Harpham in their article (Political Theory and Public Policy: published in Contemporary Empirical Political Theory) have made an impartial assessment of Marxist theory of state. One analysis is based on an article of Theodore Lowi and Edward Harpham. The enthusiastic scholars have based their analysis not only on the writings of Marx and Engels but also the functioning of capitalist economies such as USA and Britain. These scholars believe that the state still plays as an instrument of exploitation though the exploitation is not as grave and harsh as it was century ago. In spite of all these changes the class relations have not changed spectacularly. Also have changed the mode or technique of exploitation, manner of bargaining between the workers and capitalists, nature and functioning of free market economy. These scholars further observe that during the last century capitalism-and specifically the capitalist structure of economy- have undergone changes. Scholars found that many of the comments of Marx are still valid, particularly his instrumentalist approach or idea of state and class relations. Some of his unexplored works, such as The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and Grundrisse, drew the attention of serious scholars. The background factor of this regenerated interest in many of the writings of Marx and Engels were brought into light by new and enthusiastic scholars and researchers. In the sixties and seventies of the last century the scholars of the Western world showed renewed interest on Marx’s political ideas, specially his concept of state and this resulted in a reformulation of his theory of state.
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