The Structuring of State Political Opportunities towards and from Capital and Labor in the Case of the Automotive Industry in Argentina (2000-2015)

Abstract

This article introduces a multi-level sector analytical tool designed to understand how political subjects not directly related to the state interact with the state and, dialectically, how the political structuring of the state affects them and their conditions, focusing on the effects of their combined and confronting actions in the labor sphere. The analysis defines the (re)structuring of State policies towards-and-from capital and labor and re-elaborates on the former notion of political opportunity structure, but it repositions it dialectically into capitalist social relations. The model draws on institutional crystallizations, factual force correlations that affect society (downward structuring, or State structuring towards civil society), and the combined political effects of labor conflict at state level (upward structuring or structuring from the civil society to the State). This dialectic relation is discussed by bringing back overarching assumptions about the State, the public, and the political, which try to delegitimize political subjects whether in the public arena or in environments traditionally considered private and apolitical. The automotive industry in Argentina between 2000 and 2015 is the empirical reference to illustrate categories and reach to the main conclusions.