The Strategic Selectivity of the State: Reflections on a Theme of Poulantzas by BOB JESSOP [State, Power, Socialism) takes a distance from a certain con- ception that I held earlier, i.e., the relative autonomy of the state, which considered social reality in terms of instances or levels. This was, in sum, the Althusserian conception. Here I offer a series of criticisms, because it was a concep- tion that did not succeed in exactly situating the speci- ficity of the state, which did not succeed in grasping the relations between state, society, and economy in a suffi- ciently precise fashion. . . . For example, it is true that for some time, I tended to consider the state (even in its broad sense, including ideological apparatuses) as the (almost) exclusive site of the institutions of power. This was an error: there are a whole series of other power centers that are extremely important in society. . . . In this book I have tried both to break with a conception which considers the state as the totality of power and another conception which neglects entirely, or almost entirely, the state's role: that of Foucault or, ultimately, that of the Revue Libre (sc. edited by Castoriadis, Lefort and Gauchet). (1978b: 27-8) Poulantzas was an innovative thinker who was always capable of surprising us with his new insights into the stare and his shifts in political stance on major issues. This is evident in the above judgment offered in an interview on his last major work, State, BOB JESSOP is Professor of Sociology, Lancaster University, Lancaster UK. E-Mail: r.jessop@lancs.ac.uk 41