State and Power Relations: notes for a debate about public policies

Abstract

This essay has as theoretical framework the debate on "State", "power relations" and "public policies". With the objective of presenting a theoretical-epistemological debate and describe a methodological basis for analyzing the power relations in the structures of the capitalist State in the production of public policies, it is sought to answer: which categories are considered relevant, in the different theoretical perspectives, in an analysis of public policy making processes? Based on a review of the literature, this essay turns initially to present different conceptions about the State, public policies and some of the most important actors and influential factors in the process of policy making. At the last moment we present analytical factors, from an interactionist perspective, of mutual influence, between the superstructures and the social, institutional and individual structures, for the analysis of the relations in the process of production of public policies.