Author Description

No one has hitherto had the breadth of imagination and intellectual boldness to describe and analyse government 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 exhilarating journey across time and space.