Una recuperación del enfoque de la «contradicción acumulación/legitimación» a partir de las contribuciones de James O’Connor, Claus Offe y Jürgen Habermas

This article explores and systematizes the contributions of James O’Connor, Claus Offe and Jürgen Habermas regarding the relations between State and capital. Their theoretical reflections in this field were motivated by the “Atlantic Fordism” crisis and the Welfare States between the late sixties and mid-seventies. The three authors identified a contradiction between the state “functions” of accumulation and legitimation, specifying their different forms of expression. We are interested in three of them: the tendencies towards fiscal crisis, the “irrationalization” of the state apparatus and its methods of intervention, as well as the lack of meaningful motivation for action. We articulate these dimensions from a perspective of the totality, in order to build a framework of analysis that accounts for the problems of legitimation faced by several state interventions, as well as the contingencies, contradictions and limits of the public policy process.