Historical Materialist Analysis of Politics: A Methodological Approach to a Critical Analysis of Public Policies and Political Processes

Abstract

In this article we present, synthesize and critically discuss the methodological approach of the Historical-Materialist Political Analysis (HMPA), based on the considerations of the materialist theory of the State and the theory of hegemony. We claim that this approach allows the researcher to conduct empirical studies focused on temporally and spatially highly localized political processes without detaching them from the general dynamics of social reproduction in which they emerge. For the purpose of presenting the HMPA, we introduce its methodological corpus, breaking down its different steps, in order to facilitate its use, also in the Spanish-speaking academic field, as a tool for empirical analysis. To better illustrate the application of the methodology, we use the example of the so-called "Gag Law" (Ley Mordaza) as an hypothetical research object. An analysis using the HMPA would allow us to understand specific public policies, processes and conflicts (such as this law) by relating them to a society permeated by power relations.