section_path: Theories of state function/State autonomy within institutionalism
section_name: State autonomy within institutionalism
paragraph_text: State autonomy within institutionalism
  
  State autonomy theorists believe that the state is an entity that is impervious to external social and economic influence, and has interests of its own.
  
  "New institutionalist" writings on the state, such as the works of Theda Skocpol, suggest that state actors are to an important degree autonomous. In other words, state personnel have interests of their own, which they can and do pursue independently of (at times in conflict with) actors in society. Since the state controls the means of coercion, and given the dependence of many groups in civil society on the state for achieving any goals they may espouse, state personnel can to some extent impose their own preferences on civil society.