The History of Government from the Earliest Times, Vol. 3: Empires, Monarchies, and the Modern State [Paperback]

Finer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 27, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0198207913 | ISBN-13: 978-0198207917

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 first volume, Ancient Monarchies and Empires opens with Finers masterly Conceptual Prologue, setting out the entire scope and structure of The History. He goes on to consider early examples of the predominantly palace type of polity, notably in respect of the Kingdoms of Egypt and the Empires of Assyria, Persia, Han China, and Rome; interspersed with consideration of the exceptional Jewish Kingdoms and the Greek and Roman Republics. Volume II, The Intermediate Ages encompasses the church polities of the Byzantine Empire and the Caliphate; the evolution of the Tang and Ming Empires in China; the characteristics of feudal Europe, the republican alternatives of Florence and Venice, and finally the growth of representative assemblies across Europe. Volume III, Empires, Monarchies, and the Modern State opens with Tokugawa Japan and thence reviews the evidence on the Ching, Ottoman, and Mughal Empires, before turning to facets of the re-creation, modernization, and transplantation of the European state model. It concludes with the synoptic review of Pathways to the Modern State. Professor Finer's cogent descriptive analysis offers both an invaluable reference resource and an exhilarating journey across time and space.

Editorial Reviews

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) Books by the sam

Product Details

• Paperback: 644 pages
• Publisher: Oxford (May 27, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198207913
• ISBN-13: 978-0198207917
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,374,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Classic in the Field of Comparative Government, August 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The History of Government from the Earliest Times (Three Volume Set) (Hardcover)

A word of warning: Samuel Finer died before he could finish this work. His history stops at the time of the Industrial Revolution, and he did not edit the final piece: there are typos galore in the books. In spite of it all, this is one of the finest works written about government since the Federalist Papers, and it is every bit its equal.

Finer starts with the earliest records of the Sumerian city-states and ends with the French Revolution to look for "inventions" -- something new that a particular government creates and it becomes used ever after. For instance, the Jewish kingdoms of the Old Testament invented the idea of limited government: these theocracies had to follow the rules of the Torah and even the king was subject to God's law. The Roman Republic invented checks and balances as a way of preventing accumulation of all political power into the hands of one man.

The American Revolution created no less than six inventions that have spread around the world:

1) the Constitutional Convention -- a body, outside of government, of citizens, who represent the people, formulate a constitution for them, hand their work to be ratified by the people, and dissolve the Convention once their work had been done;

2) the Written Constitution -- a standard by which citizens can judge their government and also the fundamental law which governs mere statutory laws;

3) the Bill of Rights -- a way of protecting the individual by denying government by power to interfere with certain activities like speech and religion;

4) Judicial Review -- a way of enforcing the Bill of Rights, it also serves to signal the community when government is about to intrude into the forbidden zone;

5) Separation of Powers -- while Britain's government has separate branches for the different sociological groups (e.g. aristocrats in the House of Lords, middle classes in the House of Commons, etc.), America's government was the first to separate the branches according to strict function (e.g. the legislature makes laws, the executive enforces laws, and the judiciary interprets laws) so that no one branch can swallow another and obviate the checks and balances;

6) Federalism -- the idea that different tiers of government have different spheres of activities and that one tier should not invade the other's turf (e.g. states can't sign treaties, and the feds can't issue parking tickets).

Finer also covers the governments of the Greek republics, the Italian republics, the various Chinese dynasties, the representative assemblies of Europe, the Egyptian pharaohs, the Spanish colonies, the shogunate of Japan, the absolutism of France, the despotism of Russia -- in short, just about everything under the sun. It is truly a remarkable work that is well worth its expense. I can recommend no other book more highly than this one.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece - worth all 17,500 cents, July 22, 1998

By 

some guy on the internet (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The History of Government from the Earliest Times (Three Volume Set) (Hardcover)

Finer answers the question: compare and contrast all important, documented human governments. It is both well written and aproprately complex. A type of history written all too infrequently in any age.