The History of Government from the Earliest Times: Volume II: The Intermediate Ages: v.2 - Hardcover

Finer, S. E.

4.14

7 ratings by Goodreads

9780198206651: The History of Government from the Earliest Times: Volume II: The Intermediate Ages: v.2

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198206658 ISBN 13: 9780198206651

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 1997

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No one has hitherto had the breadth of imagination and intellectual boldness to describe and analyse givernment throughout recorded history and throughout the world. This unique study of government is the culmination of the work of the late S. E. Finer, one of the leading political scientists of the twentieth century. Ranging over 5,000 years, from the Sumerian city state to the modern European nation state, five themes emerge: state-building, military formats, belief systems, social stratification, and timespan. The three volumes examine both representative and exceptional polities, and focus on political elites of different types. The Intermediate Ages (Book Three) encompasses the `church' polities of the Byzantine Empire and the Caliphate; the evolution of the T'ang and Ming Empires in China; and the characteristics of feudal Europe, the `republican alternatives' of Florence and Venice, and finally the growth of representative assemblies across Europe. Professor Finer's cogent descriptive analysis offers both an invaluable reference resource and an exhilirating journey across time and space.

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Review:

No review can fully capture the breadth and accessibility of S. E. Finer's posthumous magnum opus ... its clarity and readability must be emphasized ... Finer constantly reminds us of exceptions that explain the richness and diversity of polities. (John R. Cramsie, History)

This is political science on the grandest scale: three volumes that provide a history of successive forms of government throughout the world from the earliest times to the present day ... Finer presents material on political systems that most political scientists will be completely unfamiliar with, and gives fresh insights into systems that they might have thought they knew ... What makes it a great book, and one that deserves to be read by all students of government, is Finer's remarkable ability to classify and compare across the entire universe of known systems of government. It is not simply the scholarship and erudition that is breathtaking, but also the confident, clear and imaginative use of comparative tools to describe the significance of the systems of government. (Edward Page, Public Policy)

About the Author:

FBA, Fellow of All Souls and Emeritus Gladstone Professor of Government and Public Administration in the University of Oxford (d.1993)

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