Bourgeois fractions and power bloc: a reflection based on the work of Nicos Poulantzas

Abstract

The aim of this paper consists in, for one side, discussing how Poulantzas seeks to show, in a conceptual plane, the existence of bourgeoisie fractions. The autor differentiates the fractions of the dominant class in the economic sphere: industrial, commercial, and financial bourgeoisie. However, he does not widen up what would be their specific political presences (“pertinent effects”). On the other hand, we seek to characterize two possible situations, indicated by Poulantzas, in the constitution of the power bloc: first, the tendency to conceive a hegemonic nucleus, resulting from the capacity of the dominant fractions to politically and ideologically organize themselves and to coerce the State apparatus; secondly, the exceptional conjuncture of absence of hegemony, in which the State’s policy can assume an extreme of relative autonomy (bonapartism).