The Analysis of Political Structure

This book explores how the analysis of structure fits into a general theory of politics. It applies a method informed by recent theories of structuralism to the largely untouched field of political science. It takes a holistic approach to systems analysis rather than predominant decompositional methods. By using this neglected concept of structure, it successfully accounts for the great variety of regimes, something that typical decompositional research does not do. To support his case, Easton engages the work of Nicos Poulantzas, a leading structural or Althusserian Marxist. He shows that Poulantzas' work supports the neo-statist movement - a movement which fails to account for various formal regimes. The author shows that it is the organization of political systems as whole entities which fundamentally shape the form regimes take.